A quarter of the nation could face fuel poverty
October 18, 2008
Energy prices have been at the centre of heated controversy over the course of this year. At the start of the year the big energy firms in the UK cheerfully announced that because the price of wholesale energy had risen the cost of energy usage for customers would be going up, and just weeks later, true to their word, they increased energy usage costs quite significantly, leaving already struggling household to cope with more financial worry and strain.
However, it didn’t end there. Just a few months later whispers began again with regards to a further increased in energy prices, and in the summer the energy firms once again hikes up their energy costs, again by significant amounts. Household have already been trying to cope with rising living costs, soaring food prices, rocketing petrol prices, and higher borrowing costs, and the additional rise in energy prices has left many unable to cope with their outgoings.
The situation was made even worse recently when an official from one of the energy giants E.On said that he hoped it would be a cold winter because it would mean that the firm would make more money. This comment was not welcomed by anybody, especially the Prime Minister Gordon Brown who said that it was in extremely bad taste. And to top it all a recent report has indicated that by the end of next year around one quarter of the nation could be in fuel poverty, where 10% or more of the total household income is being spent on energy bills.
The report has come from the National Housing Federation, and officials from the agency claim that around 5.7 million households will be in fuel poverty by the end of 2009. By 2010 the average household electricity bill is set to increase to around £500 per year, and the average annual gas bill to around £900 per household. In the meantime the government insists that it is doing all that it can to try and combat fuel poverty, and has firm plans in place to try and deal with the issues. In fact, the government does have targets in place to try and eliminate fuel poverty within a set number of years, but even its own advisors have said that it is unlikely that it will make this target.
According to the NHF report it is low income households on prepayment meters that are likely to be hardest hit, adding that since 2005 the number of households in fuel poverty has increased by a massive 100%. In 2005 the average annual energy bill for households was £676 whereas by 2009, next year, it is set to climb to £1406.
An official from the federation stated: “The government needs to grasp the nettle and take strong and radical action to protect the nation’s energy customers. Britain is virtually unique in Europe in that our energy suppliers have been privatised and deregulated. The promise at the time of deregulation was that prices would fall. This has palpably not happened. It is time for ministers to regulate the market.”
Related Articles
- A quarter of the nation could face fuel poverty Energy prices have been at the centre of heated controversy over the course of this year. At the start of the year the big energy
- Fuel poverty could affect a quarter of households According to a recent report fuel poverty could be affecting a quarter of households in the UK by the end of next year, with huge
- Fuel poverty targets likely to be missed According to a recent report fuel poverty targets set by the government are likely to be missed as a result of recent hikes in energy
- Will government’s fuel poverty assistance really help? With the cost of energy usage already having gone up, and with expectations of further price hikes in the autumn, the government has been taking
- Four billion added to fuel poverty rescue bill With energy prices soaring, and the cost of gas and electricity usage spiralling out of control, government officials have been stating that steps are being
Comments
Got something to say?