Tackling the fuel poverty crisis

It’s Fuel Poverty Awareness day and it’s so good to see so many housing providers backing the campaign as the day goes on. Led by National Energy Action, the day provides an opportunity to highlights the organisations and services that are working to reduce this crisis.

At CIH, we believe that everyone should have a safe, warm, and affordable place to call home, but this is far from the case across the country. Around four million households in the UK are in fuel poverty and the coming months will be exceptionally hard for those already struggling as temperatures plummet.

This blog examines why so many people are facing a freezing cold winter, the consequences of fuel poverty on health and wellbeing, the current policy landscape and what we are calling for.  

Why are so many people in fuel poverty?

Fuel poverty is an accumulation of low incomes, energy inefficient and poor quality housing, and rising energy costs. The recent Fuel Poverty Monitor has estimated that household fuel bills could rise by £124 a month in fuel poor homes this winter due to people staying at home the majority of the time. What is most worrying is how fuel poverty will be most impacted by the autumn 2021 increase in energy prices; in the latest ONS figures it is estimated around 13 per cent of households in England were classed as fuel poor, 25 per cent in Scotland, 12 per cent in Wales, and 18 per cent in Northern Ireland.

The picture has progressively gotten worse as years have gone by but is now bleaker than ever with the Covid-19 pandemic flooring the economy, leading to rising unemployment and a flatlining growth in many sectors. It has severely hit household incomes and as people are spending more time at home in cold, unhealthy houses, they’re using more energy, paying more for their energy and falling into unavoidable debt - all whilst earning less or nothing at all. Millions are confined to cold and unhealthy homes that they just can’t afford to heat and are having to make the impossible decision between eating or heating.

Consequences on health and wellbeing

Living in cold, damp conditions contributes significantly to the number of excess winter deaths each year. Struggling with energy costs and household bills also negatively impacts mental health of both adults and children.

The Office for National Statistics has estimated 28,300 excess winter deaths occurred in England and Wales in winter 2019/20, which was 19.6 per cent higher than in winter 2018/19. This figure is determined by looking at the number of deaths that occurred during the winter months of December to March and comparing that to the average deaths during the four months before this, August to November, and the four months after, April to July.

Cold weather exacerbates pre-existing conditions such as those affecting the respiratory and circulatory systems, dementia, and Alzheimer’s; without a warm home, fatalities happen. Age UK says retired households have the highest average fuel costs compared to those of other ages and households with a person with a disability or someone with a long-term illness mean they are 50% more likely to be living in fuel poverty. According to charity Scope, a third of disabled adults say that their condition has a significant effect on their energy costs and 4.1 million households with a disabled person spend over £1,500 a year on energy. Of these, 790,000 spend over £2,500 a year on energy - the average UK household spends around £1,200.

A cold home also has a damning impact on children and young people. Long-term exposure to a cold home can affect weight gain in babies and young children and increase the severity and frequency of asthmatic symptoms. Children in cold homes are more than twice as likely to suffer from breathing problems, and those in damp and mouldy homes are up to three times more likely to suffer from coughing, wheezing and respiratory illness when compared to those who had dry and warm homes. As if that wasn’t enough, living in a cold home can have a negative impact on children’s education; children with health issues because of cold and damp will have to stay off school or may not be able to concentrate due to poor sleep quality and hunger, if the adult of the home is forced to choose between eating or heating.

The biggest opportunity for eliminating fuel poverty is through the decarbonisation of domestic heat, improving energy efficiency and making bills more affordable.

Decarbonisation of the housing stock is one of the biggest hurdles that must be overcome for the United Kingdom to achieve its net zero ambitions. It also provides a great opportunity to provide warm, comfortable homes for everyone that are affordable to heat. The financial savings to be had if decarbonisation is done properly are huge.

Although there are schemes available to help fuel poor households to decarbonise their homes across each of the UK nations, the amount of funding available and their design are often not fit for purpose and they are often short-term. Longer-term schemes such as the Energy Company Obligation have also been subject to changes and the Green Homes Grant, which had good potential to vastly upscale the energy efficiency of our homes, was scrapped due to poor planning and administrative mishaps. When this happens, confidence is lost. Despite new strategies addressing the milestones we must reach to decarbonise effectively and at scale, there are glaring gaps and uncertainty in the policy space regarding the long-term plan for decarbonising heating for everyone. The future cost of electricity still hangs in the balance, with uncertainty over what we are to expect.

However, we must not gloss over what we do have. We know we have £3.9bn for the social housing decarbonisation fund.  An initial £800m of that was brought forward in the spending review, and CIH has long called for the detail of the scheme to be brought forward, so this first tranche is a solid step in the right direction. We do urge further clarity from government and particularly a long-term investment plan.

The government has also committed long term central funding to help fuel poor households improve their homes, with funding available for off gas households up to 2025. There is immediate support available for fuel poor households and the details can be found here in a blog that NEA have written for CIH today.

CIH wholeheartedly supports the work that National Energy Action does to support people struggling to heat their homes affordably and the tireless advocacy and campaigning work that goes into what they do. Please get behind the campaign today and show your support in helping to put an end to fuel poverty.

We’d really like to know what your organisation does to support tenants struggling with their fuel costs. If you have a dedicated energy advice team or some good working practice that you’d like to share, please get in touch with Alexandra Gibson, policy officer at CIH: Alexandra.gibson@cih.org