Jun 8 2007
The most vulnerable people in society must continue to benefit from the government's work to tackle climate change, Ian Pearson, Climate Change and Environment Minister, said today.
Outlining the new measures contained in the recent Energy White Paper to an Energywatch conference, Mr Pearson said that making sure people on low incomes could adequately heat their home was a fundamental principle.
Mr Pearson said:
"People should not have to choose between heating and eating. We know that boosting energy efficiency in people's homes can help cut fuel bills and carbon emissions, and so help combat climate change.
"But for many people, heating their home takes up a large part of their income. Fuel prices have increased and many homes have inefficient heating systems and a lack of insulation which means that fuel is wasted unnecessarily - this costs people money, but also harms the environment.
"The government takes this seriously - and through the measures we announced in the Energy White Paper, an extra 200,000 homes will be taken out of fuel poverty - ensuring that they are spending less of their incomes on heating their homes."
Mr Pearson today announced that the offer of a benefit entitlement check would be extended to all Warm Front customers. He also highlighted other Government action that will help to alleviate fuel poverty, including enabling DWP benefit recipient information to be used by a wider audience, in clearly specified and controlled circumstances and strongly encouraging energy suppliers to do more for those in fuel poverty.
Mr Pearson added:
"As we all know, fuel prices have risen sharply since 2003 when fuel was at the lowest levels of cost in real terms for over 30 years. This has inevitably had an impact on vulnerable households, where people spend a large part of their incomes to heat their homes. The Government is committed to providing them with direct help.
"I am encouraged by the recently-announced energy price reductions and would expect the energy companies to continue to pass on the full benefits of any reductions in costs to their customers.
"We have to ensure that the social dimension of our work in tackling climate change remains at the forefront of policy considerations and we must ensure that the benefits of our climate change programmes are shared equitably, and to tackle fuel poverty to deliver our statutory targets.
"About half of all homes have benefited from some form of energy efficiency intervention. This is an encouraging start but we still have much more to do. To meet our stretching carbon targets, all parts of society will need to act and, with over 40% of carbon emissions coming from our homes and personal travel, we - as individuals - have a significant contribution to make. To really fulfil that potential, Government must continue to play its part in making it easy for consumers to reduce their carbon footprint."
The government outlined the following measures in the Energy White Paper to help people lead greener lives:
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increasing the number of energy efficiency measures delivered into homes under the Carbon Emission Reduction Target and extending the obligation on energy suppliers until at least 2020. This will save around 1.1MtC a year by 2010, resulting in lower bills and increased comfort to consumers.
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providing households with better information and advice through tools like the better billing and metering, a proposed voluntary Code of Practice for the offsetting industry, and tools like the upcoming CO2 calculator; and
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raising the standards of energy using products.
Outlining the benefits to consumers - and especially those of the Government's strategy on energy. Research from the Energy Saving Trust shows that we waste £900m a year just by leaving products on standby