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Re: BBC Article On Fuel Poverty
Fuel poverty affects one in five households
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More than a fifth of all households in the UK were affected by fuel poverty in 2009, government figures have shown.
Higher fuel bills meant the number of homes affected rose by one million, or 22%, to 5.5 million, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said.
A household is described as being in fuel poverty when it has to spend more than 10% of its income keeping warm.
DECC predicts that the numbers for 2010 and 2011 will have increased because of further rises in the price of energy.
"Between 2004 and 2009, energy prices increased: domestic electricity prices increased by over 75%, while gas prices increased by over 122% over the same period," DECC said.
"This led to the rise in fuel poverty seen over this period," it added.
Rising prices
Before 2004, the problem had been in decline, with fuel poverty across the UK dropping from 6.5 million homes in 1996 to just under 2 million in 2003.
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The overall effect of price rises since 2004 has far outweighed the impact of increasing incomes and energy efficiency”
DECC
This had been driven by the combined effect of rising incomes and falling energy prices.
Despite increased effort and money being put into insulating homes to make them more energy efficient, DECC admitted that the benefit of these initiatives was being swamped by steeply rising fuel prices.
"The overall effect of price rises since 2004 has far outweighed the impact of increasing incomes and energy efficiency," DECC said.
Recently, both British Gas and Scottish Power have announced further price rises and other energy suppliers are expected to follow them soon.
DECC warned that an increasing number of households were now at risk of falling into fuel poverty.
The department estimates that in England another 100,000 households will have been pushed below the threshold, taking the number to 4.1 million by the end of this year, out of a total of 21.5 million homes.
But the official consumer body, Consumer Focus, said this was likely to be an underestimate.
'Fuel poverty levels are set to soar as energy price hikes and the cost of investment in making our energy supply more secure and sustainable kick in," said Audrey Gallacher at Consumer Focus.
"Four of the Big Six have yet to announce their expected price rises - if these are in line with the increases announced from British Gas and Scottish Power around 12 million people, or 6.4 million British households, are likely to be in fuel poverty when the latest price rises hit."
Most of the fuel-poor homes are "vulnerable", defined by the government as ones containing the elderly, children, or someone who is disabled or suffering from a long-term illness.
However, this category covers the majority (71%) of homes in England.
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Re: BBC Article On Fuel Poverty
And heres what Gillian had to say -
http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/press_20111407Comment
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