Dear Constituent, I am writing to you because you have either recently or previously contacted me with your support for more energy-efficiency homes for the elderly. When Labour was in Government, policies like the Winter Fuel Payment and the Cold Weather Payment, as well as improvements in energy efficiency through Warm Front and tough requirements on the big energy companies, led to 1.75 million fewer households living in fuel poverty, including half a million fewer vulnerable households. However, as a result of this Government’s policies, the proportion of homes in fuel poverty in England and Wales has seen a dramatic increase. At a time when millions of families and vulnerable older people are struggling with their energy bills, the Government has cut the number of people getting help to insulate their homes through Warm Front, which has now closed for good, making this the first Government since the 1970s not to have a Treasury funded scheme to tackle fuel poverty. These schemes have been replaced with the Green Deal and the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), but the Government’s own figures show that under the Green Deal, the number of homes getting loft and cavity wall insulation has dropped. Low income and fuel-poor homes only get half as much support as they did under the obligations Labour imposed on the big energy companies through the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) and the Carbon Emission Reduction Target (CERT), both of which the current Government has brought to an end. The next Labour Government would specifically tackle the threat elderly people face from fuel poverty by requiring energy companies to put all over 75s on their cheapest tariff. This could save as many as four million pensioners as much as £200 a year from their annual energy bills. Research by Ofgem has shown that pensioners are less likely to switch supplier than average consumers, and are therefore among those least likely to investigate cheaper tariffs. Labour’s policy would help address this to ensure pensioners benefit from lower bills for their gas or electricity. I will continue to support measures which promote energy efficient homes and buildings, and through my work with constituents, take up individual cases to ensure older people have access to services which assist them to keep warm and healthy. Thank you again for contacting me about this important matter. Yours sincerely Nick Raynsford MP Office of the Rt Hon. Nick Raynsford MP Labour MP for Greenwich & Woolwich House of Commons, London. SW1A 0AA
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 15:33:19 +0000
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