Thousands facing winter cold unnecessarily
Article published: Friday, December 18th 2009
Thousands of vulnerable people in Manchester risk being left in the cold during this Christmas simply because they’re not aware of a government scheme.
The social tariff is available to the poorer members of society but isn’t widely known to the general public. The scheme is part of a voluntary £225 million social programme which energy regulator, Ofgem, agreed for 2008-2011. It is now only offered by some providers including Scottish Power, Atlantic Electric and Gas and British Gas.
Over 60s are the most likely to receive help from the initiative but the conditions applicants need to fulfil vary across different suppliers.
Andy Brown, chief executive of the Manchester Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) said: “Our research has found that customers often aren’t told about social tariffs, and they don’t know to ask for them. The easiest way to find out whether you can get one is to ring your gas and electricity companies.”
The Manchester branch of the CAB has experienced an increase of almost 50 per cent in the people contacting them about gas and electric debts.
The government has pledged to end the problem of ‘fuel poverty’ in England by 2016, which is defined as any household spending 10 per cent or more of their annual income on gas and electricity.
According to figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change there may be up to 4.6 million people in the UK currently experiencing.
However, according to Ofgem, one million households are currently receiving help with their bills by being signed up to the social tariff scheme.
Despite the rise in the number of people in fuel poverty the average income and fuel prices have risen over the past few years.
The median wage and basic State Pension have risen consistently over the last four years with a sharper upturn for both this year. This goes against the inflation rate which has fallen quite dramatically to 0.5 per cent, where it has been for the past ten months.
During this period energy profits have increased. Npower’s rose from £396 million in 2005 to £484 million in 2008. Despite this, gas charges from all suppliers have risen by 45 per cent to consumers collectively over the previous year.
Even though profits and charges has increased considerably there has been little advertising of the various forms of the social tariff offered by certain energy companies. This could be down to the amount of money available on the scheme, with only £130 million on offer for the one million customers already receiving help.
The price of crude oil has also had its impacts. Over the past four years the price has risen sharply and then fallen, before levelling out to $73 a barrel.
However, according to an Npower spokesperson: “It is not just crude oil that makes up ours costs, there are operating costs and overheads, while the wholesale gas market also plays a part.”
The cold weather causes a lot of problems in the UK with an extra 37,000 deaths recorded because of it between 2008 and 2009. There are also illnesses, including respitory and heart conditions, worsened by living in cold, damp houses.
Ron Campbell of National Energy Action said: “The NEA believes that social tariffs should be available to all households on the basis of need. This would apply to households on the lowest incomes who are disabled or elderly or who have young children. In total, this would mean that around 4 million households were entitled to discounted energy bills.
“We need a programme that combines significant heating and insulation improvements to the housing stock with lower prices offered to vulnerable households through social tariffs. And also an extension of the Winter Fuel Payment to the poorest and most disadvantaged non-pensioner households.”
For further information on what help is available through your energy supplier you can call the Home Heat Helpline on 0800 336699.
Tom Evans
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