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"The sun may be shining but tackling Fuel Poverty is at top of agenda" says Williams
July 1, 2008 12:00 AM
Roger Williams MP has called for further action to be taken to tackle Fuel Poverty. Roger said "It may seem strange talking about fuel poverty during the summer months but action must be taken now to tackle the price rises faced by older people for oil and L.P.G. It is widely predicted that energy prices will have risen by 40% by the end of the year this could potentially lead to almost 1 in 5 households living in fuel poverty".
"The knock of affect of living in fuel poverty often leads to extra strain being placed on the NHS with people being admitted to hospital suffering from hypothermia, pneumonia, cardiac and stokes".
"According to Age Concern Cymru, in winter 2005/6 there were an estimated 1500 avoidable deaths in Wales as a result of the cold. We cannot allow this to happen again this winter. I am aware of residents in Brecon and Radnorshire who have been forced to turn their heating supply off simply because they could no longer afford to pay their energy bills".
"I have been in contact with fuel providers, Powys County Council, Warm Wales and Age Concern Cymru to look at ways of tackling this problem. Age Concern and Help the Aged are campaigning for a £50 payment to older people over 70 to offset the 40% annual prices increases. It could be possible to take this payment from the £225million announced by BERR as part of the commitment from Energy companies to provide social assistance by increasing their investment to £150 million per year by 2012. I will be contacting the Minister to ensure that he looks at this recommendation seriously".
Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said:
"We've got a commitment from the energy companies now to provide an extra £225 million in social assistance by increasing their investment to £150 million per year by 2011. Now we're working on finding ways to get them the right information to enable them to get that money to those who need it the most. That's what's most important right now - making sure the most vulnerable, the elderly, the disabled and young families aren't cold in their own homes because they can't pay their bills."
"In the light of rising energy prices and the increasing global demand for energy we have to think long term and carefully and provide sustainable solutions to those most likely to need help. As well as measures to improve the incomes of the vulnerable, a key part of this must be energy efficiency which will help bring people's bills down in the future and keep their homes warm. It means using schemes such as the LCBP to ensure the fuel poor can benefit from the lower bills that modern technology can bring."
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