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Energy Shouldn’t Cost the Earth
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‘MAKE FUEL POVERTY HISTORY’ SAYS SALTER
Reading West MP Martin Salter has today called for MPs to lend their support to the National Consumer Council’s campaign Energy Shouldn’t Cost the Earth. The campaign raises awareness of vulnerable people who struggle to afford an adequate energy supply. Speaking from Westminster Mr Salter said: ”Nearly four million households in the UK are living in fuel poverty, juggling competing demands on their income and often having to choose between feeding their families and heating their homes. Around half of the 5.5 million people considered fuel poor in this country are over sixty and around 40 per cent have a disability or long-term illness. In Reading West alone almost 8 per cent of households live in fuel poverty, and 17 per cent of dwellings in the area failed the National Energy Action (NEA) charity’s thermal comfort test. The annual average of Excess Winter Deaths in Reading West from the period 2000 to 2005 was 20, according to the study.’ “The NCC’s campaign proposes a solution, not only to this unacceptable situation, but also to the problem of energy over-use, which is an issue we cannot afford to ignore as a society.” The NCC is calling for better targeted energy-efficiency programmes; fairer, more affordable energy tariffs and adequate financial support for those in the greatest need. The campaign’s other main focus is encouraging those who over-consume energy to use it more wisely. Mr Salter who is the Labour Party’s Vice Chair for the Environment spoke of the danger of viewing these issues in isolation: ”Fuel Poverty and Climate Change are clearly interrelated; each present social and environmental problems and as such they can and must be tackled together. 80 % of those living in fuel poverty occupy houses of below average fuel efficiency. The UK has less than one per cent of the world’s population, but produces a full 2% of the world’s carbon emissions. A third of those emissions come from hearting our homes and the water we use. Of those families in fuel poverty, around 80 per cent live in homes of below average energy efficiency.” The Reading West MP also called on Members of Parliament to support the Climate Change Bill announced in the Queen’s Speech at the beginning of November, and the NEA’s Warm Homes Campaign 2007, which encourages energy efficiency schemes, such as insulation improvements. The Climate Change Bill proposes a comprehensive scheme of carbon budgeting and targeting greenhouse gases, as well as waste reduction initiatives. |
