A household in Wales is in fuel poverty if they spend 10% or more of their income on energy costs.
The Cross Party Group on Fuel Poverty at the time worked hard to establish the Fuel Poverty Coalition, the Fuel Poverty Charter - and to secure agreement from the Welsh Government to revise its Fuel Poverty Strategy.
And in 2010 the Welsh Government set out its strategy to eradicate fuel poverty in Wales in all households by 2018.
Less than 10 months away from the target date, the most recent statistics – which are out of date – show that 23%, or almost 300,000 households in Wales are living in fuel poverty, unable to afford to adequately heat their home, or in crippling debt with their energy supplier.
It is clear therefore that the Welsh Government Strategy has not worked.
The objectives of the 2010 Fuel Poverty Strategy are still relevant – it is still vital that we reduce the impact of fuel poverty on households and work to eradicate fuel poverty, it is still vital that we create green jobs and business opportunities, and it is still vital that we reduce energy inefficiency in the domestic sector.
However, many of the mechanisms and measures contained within the 2010 Fuel Poverty Strategy are out of date or no longer applicable.
Although the Nest and Arbed schemes are helping, these alone are not sufficient to tackle the problem.
The Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs’ announcement to invest £104 million over the next four years in increasing the energy efficiency of up to 25,000 low income households in Wales is welcomed.
However, this will not eradicate fuel poverty by 2018.
This equates to an average of 6,250 homes a year - and if the schemes were to continue to assist similar numbers each year, it would take 48 years to eradicate fuel poverty in Wales.
Britain’s smart meter rollout is the biggest upgrade to our energy infrastructure in a generation. Every household across Great Britain is eligible for a smart meter from their energy supplier at no additional cost.
The energy system upgrade will digitise the retail energy market, bring an end to estimated bills and provide information on energy costs in pounds and pence.
Smart meters give near real time information on energy consumption, accurate energy bills and the information to work out whether people are on the best tariff or should switch to a different tariff or supplier.
Once the national infrastructure is complete, smart meters will be fully interoperable between suppliers, which will mean quicker and easier switching.
However, the roll out will also require universal mobile connectivity.
Smart meters should make prepay as easy as pay-as- you-go on a mobile.
Consumers will have the ability to switch easily between payment options with no need to change their existing smart meter.
Consumers will conveniently see how much credit they have left on their in-home display, top-up will become more flexible, and people will pay the same rates as everyone else because smart meters remove the need for prepay to be more expensive than other tariffs.
However, energy suppliers have highlighted the need for the retail energy price cap to be constructed in a way that allows them to carry on implementing the Smart Meter-rollout.
The annual cost to the Welsh NHS for treating people who are made ill by living in a cold damp home is approximately £67 million. Evidence by National Energy Action shows that a cold home can worsen arthritic conditions and rheumatic conditions, and increase propensity to falls.
GP consultations for respiratory tract infections can increase by up to 19% for every one degree drop in temperature below 5°C.
It’s not only physical health problems that stem from cold homes.
Individuals living in homes with bedroom temperatures of 15°C are 50% more likely to suffer from mental health problems than those living with temperatures of 21°C.
With current demand on the Welsh NHS higher than ever before, more needs to be done to tackle cold homes.
Eradicating fuel poverty will not only lead to a healthier population, but will also contribute to our decarbonisation targets.
We know that the energy used in homes accounts for more than a quarter of energy use in Wales.
More energy is used in housing than either road transport or industry, and therefore housing represents a major opportunity to cut energy use and emissions.
A revised strategy with ambitious objectives is now vital.
Better insulation, smarter lighting and appliances, and smarter heating systems could reduce the emission of a household by 0.6 tonnes of CO2 per year, and will save the householder an average of £184 a year.
Improving the housing stock will therefore both cut emissions and help tackle fuel poverty.
NEA Cymru have called for new targets to improve homes to a minimum energy efficiency standard of EPC C, which I raised with the Cabinet Secretary last month.
Calor Gas has stated that they also fully support increasing the energy efficiency of homes, and providing people with information to help them do this.
However, they have called for smarter design of EPCs as the principal “Energy Efficiency Rating” measure on Energy Performance Certificates, which is prominently placed on the first page, and based on running costs rather than units of energy.
They therefore state that this is an unreliable measure of “energy efficiency”, particularly in off-gas grid areas.
They advocate instead the use of an energy based rating system, adopting the approach used in many other European countries, which have also had to comply with the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.
Calor highlight the need for a programme targeted at rural areas, which traditionally have higher levels of fuel poverty -
With rural households more likely to be off the gas grid and living in less energy efficient properties – for example with solid walls and/or floors or using non-traditional heating systems.
However, the Welsh Government's 2016 consultation on the future of NEST largely ignored the needs for rural communities, with little commitment to allow rural dwellings in smaller off-gas communities to benefit.
Calor highlight the need to look at rural housing separately to urban, to encourage continued innovation in low carbon fuels and technologies, and to ensure that current building regulations are properly enforced.
I have had the pleasure of visiting the Natural Building Centre in Llanrwst, Conwy, which offers comprehensive expertise regarding old buildings and ecological building products, including the appropriate insulation for non-traditional rural dwellings.
The Fuel Poverty Strategy 2010 states that it is only by pulling together, social, environmental and economic objectives that we can improve the well-being of householders and communities in Wales.
What is needed now is a revised Fuel Poverty Strategy with ambitious targets and investment in order to eradicate fuel poverty in Wales as a social justice issue once and for all.
Yes, this is about energy efficiency, but it is also about tackling together social isolation, the impact of mental illness, financial illiteracy and debt, and much more.
As the Fuel Poverty Coalition Cymru states, the Welsh Government must save lives by implementing the NICE guidelines on tackling excess Winter Deaths.
As the Bevan and Joseph Rowntree Foundations told the Assembly’s Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee three years ago “fuel poverty should have a higher profile in the Welsh Government’s tackling poverty action plan, because it is a fundamental human need to have a warm home”.
And as Age Cymru have said “many of the mechanisms and measures contained within the 2010 Fuel Poverty Strategy are out of date or no longer applicable”-
adding “the time is right for the Welsh Government to refresh its Fuel Poverty Strategy, with a clear programme and time scales, credible evidence base, ambitious new fuel poverty target rooted in delivery rather than being a hostage to energy price movements”.
We must put early intervention and prevention into practice, giving real meaning to person-centred and citizen directed approaches.
Independent advice services for people in Fuel Poverty must be supported – rescuing those in immediate crisis whose needs are not met by current provision.
Contributions by Energy Companies offering advice and support for people struggling with their energy bills must be embraced.
The UK Government is considering measures to prevent millions of people getting into financial difficulty through unfair energy bills.
The new proposals will help vulnerable people benefit from cheaper energy by:
- allowing energy suppliers to automatically move vulnerable people onto a special safeguard tariff set by Ofgem that would protect them from unfair price rises.
- And launching a consultation yesterday to seek the views on changing the law to allow information to be shared – under controlled conditions – between public authorities and energy suppliers.
This would identify customers receiving specific state benefits that indicate they might be at risk of fuel poverty, and see them moved automatically to Ofgem’s safeguard tariff cap.
The Welsh Government is urged to implement the following recommendations:
• To designate domestic energy efficiency as a key national infrastructure priority which lies at the heart of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales’ investment priorities
• To develop a new long-term strategy for addressing fuel poverty as a matter of urgency
• To set a new fuel poverty target to improve homes to a minimum energy efficiency standard, backed up with the data we need to drive an ambitious new strategy.
• And to ensure that Public Service Boards for every local authority area in Wales outline how they intend to address cold homes and fuel poverty in their Local Well-being Plans – and integrate this into the work of the Regional Partnership Boards.
Its time to get smart with fuel poverty!