- An agenda for the new Welsh Government,  here

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Hit Fuel Poverty for Six: Viv Sugar & John Griffiths at Senedd event

Fuel Poverty campaigners are calling on the Welsh Government to prioritise households in severe fuel poverty as they face rising prices this coming winter. Currently, 61,000 homes in Wales are living in severe fuel poverty spending £1 in every £5 on keeping their home warm.

And with energy experts predicting that other suppliers will follow Scottish Power and raise prices by 10% or more ahead of this coming winter, the number of people across Wales living in fuel poverty and severe fuel poverty is only likely to rise.

Launching a new plan for tackling the issues at the Assembly today, Nuria Zolle, Chair of the Fuel Poverty Coalition Cymru called for a detailed action plan showing how the government might meet its targets. Ms Zolle said: “The Fuel Poverty Coalition Cymru brings together a wide range of organisations who want to see an end to fuel poverty. We know that the government – and all parties in the Assembly – are committed to the eradication of fuel poverty, but as prices continue to rise far faster than wages, the best efforts of the government have not been able to keep pace.

“That’s why we are calling on the Welsh Government to create a clear roadmap showing the steps we need to take in Wales and the milestones we will need to meet on the way in order to eradicate fuel poverty. We also want to see a range of measures to improve integration of fuel poverty spending with other programmes – both with the UK government and between departments of the Welsh Government – and a crisis fund to ensure the most vulnerable people in society can be protected.”

The six point action plan calls on the Welsh Government to:

• Develop a roadmap with clear milestones that highlights how the 2010 target to eradicate fuel poverty among vulnerable households will be achieved and by when
• Develop the monitoring and evaluation plan agreed in the revised Fuel Poverty Strategy, including detail of households’ actual running costs before and after every Welsh Government energy efficiency intervention
• Ensure energy efficiency schemes Nest and Arbed are effectively integrated with UK-wide support programmes, prioritising and targeting severe fuel poor households as a matter of social justice
• Develop an emergency heating crisis fund to ensure the wellbeing of vulnerable households during the winter months
• Set out a programme of work for health and social care services to support the eradication of fuel poverty
• Capitalise on the potential for energy efficiency programmes, including the Green Deal and the Energy Company Obligation, to create green job opportunities and apprenticeships in Wales

The launch in the Senedd was addressed by Environment Minister John Griffiths AM, and hosted by Mark Isherwood AM, who chaired the cross party group on fuel poverty in the previous Assembly. Members of the Fuel Poverty Coalition steering group and other supporters will also be attending the event.

Notes:

The Fuel Poverty Coalition Cymru was established in 2009 and brings together more than 50 organisations. The Coalition is led by Consumer Focus Wales and National Energy Action Cymru and a steering group composed of: Age Cymru, Care and Repair Cymru, Citizens Advice Cymru, Children in Wales, Community Housing Cymru, Eco Centre Wales, End Child Poverty Network, Friends of the Earth Cymru, Macmillan Cancer Support, Oxfam Cymru and Shelter Cymru.

For more details about the Fuel Poverty Coalition visit http://www.fuelpovertycharterwales.org.uk/

Or the Coalition’s Facebook page http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Fuel-Poverty-Coalition-Cymru/125008664244596

Or on twitter: @fuelpovertycc

“The Fuel Poverty Coalition welcomes the publication of the Fairness Test for Wales, and urges the Welsh Assembly Government to put it at the heart of its thinking in the forthcoming budget round, to ensure that spending cuts are properly considered.

“As a group we are mindful that there will be pressure to cut the programmes that tackle fuel poverty. But the benefits of these programmes need to be thought through. Cutting a few pounds from fuel poverty programmes will prove a poor choice, if it leads to more people living in cold homes and ends up putting greater pressure on the health services in the near future.”

The End Child Poverty Network Cymru is calling on the Welsh Assembly Government to commit to a Fairness Test for Wales which would be a verifiable and publicly transparent assessment of the impact of the budget on inequality of income, assets or access to public services.

End Child Poverty Network Cymru is specifically asking the Welsh Assembly Government:

1. Is there a process in place for assessing the impact of spending cuts in Wales on inequality of income, assets and access to services

2. If there is a process, in the interests of transparent government we urge you to place information about the process and its methodology in the public domain

3. If there is no such process, we urge you to develop one urgently to ensure that fairness is at the heart of the difficult decisions that the Welsh Assembly Government need to make in the November budget.

4. Publish the assessment reports alongside any budget reductions.

Notes

• For more information about the Fuel Poverty Coalition Cymru, see the website. http://www.fuelpovertycharterwales.org.uk/

The coalition aims to drive forward the fuel poverty agenda in Wales and campaigns for fuel poverty to be eradicated in Wales. We aim to do this in collaboration with the Welsh Assembly Government.

• The Fairness Test for Wales can be downloaded from the publication section of the End Child Poverty Network Cymru website: http://www.endchildpovertycymru.org.uk/areasofwork/childpoverty/povertypublications.html

Please click to read full statement by the minister…

Nuria Zolle, chair of the Wales Fuel Poverty Charter Coalition said: “The coalition welcomes the publication of the Fuel Poverty Strategy – this is an important document which has been a long time in gestation, and shows that the Welsh Assembly Government has listened to some of the arguments we have been putting forward”.

Please click to read statement in full…

There was widespread agreement that simplification of the benefits system was needed to help people access their entitlements. Speaking at the Conservative party fringe meeting, Fran Taggart, Director of Citizens Advice Wales said that the current benefits system needed to be changed to help “those who are most in need”.  The complexity of the current system has left the most vulnerable finding it hard to claim their entitlements through difficult and length forms.  Dr Dai Lloyd AM, at the Plaid Cymru Spring Conference in Cardiff, called for pensions credit to be paid automatically as only half of those eligible receive them.

Jane Davidson criticised energy firms’ actions towards their customers during the recession.  Falling wholesale energy prices had not been similarly reflected in retail energy suppliers pricing, which remained high.  She said that “we are not getting enough money back from companies and their profits have virtually doubled in recent months”. For example, British Gas increased its residential profits by 58% earlier this year, whilst reducing household bills by only 7% at the end of winter. Increasing energy prices has led to more people seeking advice concerning fuel debt, with CAB Wales reporting enquiries have risen to 32% by December 2009, second only to issues concerning bailiffs. One of the ways householders manage their energy bills is through pre-payment meters, and Nuria Zolle for NEA Cymru said “their use in Wales is higher than elsewhere” and “it is a good way to budget.  What is more, risk-averse poor households don’t want to risk switching”.

There was widespread criticism of energy suppliers by Assembly Members at the fringe meetings, Dr Dai Lloyd said “the sheer complexity of the system is one the major reasons why people are put off from switching” even though “they could save substantial amounts of money”. Jane Davidson AM saw little benefit in sticking with an original supplier for the area saying that “I doubt it is a good decision to be a loyal consumer”. Citizens Advice called on Ofgem to be more effective in managing the market to ensure tariffs offered by the energy suppliers were transparent and offered customers a fair deal, especially those who only use cash and are unable to access either a bank account or the internet.

Mark Isherwood AM, at the Conservative Party conference in Llandudno, said that the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme “only ticks one of the many boxes”. He called for more co-ordination between government departments and greater integration with local government to drive forward a duty to help tackle fuel poverty. He was concerned that the review of proposed strategy would duplicate the work conducted by the voluntary and private sector which could consequently be lost within the proposed central advice and support hub.  Moreover, he was concerned that the review of HEES could reduce the number of people helped received by 80%.

Citizens Advice offered a pessimistic, but widely held view, that “we don’t think…that the [fuel poverty] target will be hit” and that “the situation from our perspective is getting worse” as fuel prices were increasing in the short and long term.  With the establishment of the Arbed energy efficiency programme, Jane Davidson AM said that assistance would be more focused on strategic regeneration areas in Wales, through central funding from the Welsh Assembly Government.  The funding would be matched with the energy firm funding who have begun to target some their investments to focus on the fuel poverty agenda, as Nuria Zolle from NEA Cymru, stated “the energy company’s energy efficiency schemes could be better targeted to assist low income consumers in private homes”.

There is clear political support to tackle Fuel poverty in Wales and the messages from the Fuel Poverty coalition have been listened too. With slipping targets and high energy prices, the governments much anticipated publication of its revised fuel poverty strategy by July, will have an important influence on future of the agenda in Wales.

The period 2008-2009, witnessed a 74% increase in excess winter deaths in Wales from 1,440 in the previous year to 2500 people and the highest since 1999/2000. This increase in winter death directly corresponds with a decrease in winter temperatures in 2008-2009. Worryingly, the data shows that 80% of all winters deaths are for people aged 75 and above, with the highest rates of deaths relate to people aged 85 and over. The data shows that during death rates for people aged 85 and over increased to 152 per 1,000 deaths in Wales compared to 1.2 per 1000 deaths for people aged between 0-64. In total Winters deaths in 2008/2009, were provisionally 26% higher than the average non-winter deaths.