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The latest figures show the number of households in fuel poverty has reached 3.26 million.
Last February, the average annual energy bill was £1,271 and now it is £2,500 but set to rise to an annual average of £3,000 from April.
Energy Minister Grant Shapps is said to be considering stopping the planned April rise. According to a story in The Times, Shapps said: “I completely recognise the argument over keeping that price guarantee in place, and the chancellor and I are working very hard on it. I’m very sympathetic to making sure that we protect [people]. We’re looking at this very, very carefully.”
Consumer champion Martin Lewis is calling for a postponement to the cuts in government support, and more than 85 organisations have backed his campaign to keep The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) at a typical £2,500 a year, rather than raising it to £3,000 a year from 1 April 2023. His letter to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, sent on 9th February, said:
While the EPG isn’t perfect, as it’s not targeted, it is the method the government currently uses to support people. Postponing the increase is a practical and fair decision, with household energy bills already double what they were the prior winter. Crucially, the damage to people’s pockets and mental health of another round of energy price rise letters is disproportionate.
Without intervention, and soon, the charity National Energy Action predicts that the number of fuel poor households will rise drastically from an already shocking 6.7 million to 8.4 million from April – approaching double the 4.5 million households in this position in October 2021. [i] That is a frightening statistic.
There is widespread support for this move, which the likes of Citizens Advice, Fair By Design, National Energy Action, and StepChange agree with. I trust you’ll consider this change and I look forward to receiving your response.
Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) previously warned that the government would miss its interim target of getting fuel poor homes to EPC E by 2020, ahead of its statutory target for all fuel poor homes to EPC C by 2030. NEA estimates it will now take 300 years to catch up.
CEO of NEA, Adam Scorer, said:
Over 3.2 million households in England are in fuel poverty according to government data but the worst of the energy crisis is not represented – people being forced to self-disconnect, struggling with ice on the inside of their windows and living with damp and cold. And the situation will not get better. From April the average annual bill will rise from £2,500 to £3,000 and that means without government intervention – both for energy efficiency measures and financial support with bills – the number in fuel poverty will continue to rise.
New polling by YouGov exclusively for National Energy Action of 2,055 adults in Great Britain shows that 85% say that they support financial support to low-income homeowners – the new fuel poverty statistics show that 160,000 low-income homes are particularly exposed to the energy crisis due to the government missing the 2020 Fuel Poverty Milestone for all fuel poor homes in England to reach EPC E by the end of 2020.
