ACE

The Cost of Alleviating Fuel Poverty

 funded by Eaga PCT

This research found that it will cost £9.2 billion to eliminate fuel poverty in all but the poorest households in England. The cost of the required energy efficiency and renewable energy measures alone, without the effort of finding fuel poor households, raising their incomes or making all homes ‘fuel poverty proof’, is £4.6 billion. The study also found that currently, measures (with the exception of cavity wall insulation) are not being installed at a sufficient rate to meet the Government’s legally binding targets of eradicating fuel poverty in vulnerable homes by 2010 and in all homes by 2016, wherever practically possible. The findings of this research, which was funded by the Eaga Partnership Charitable Trust and completed by ACE, the Centre for Sustainable Energy and Dr Richard Moore, will enable policy makers to better understand and target the work and investment required to achieve national, regional and local targets for fuel poverty.

One of the key policy recommendations arising from this project was the creation of a ministerial cross-departmental task force to deal exclusively with ensuring that the Government meets its statutory fuel poverty targets in the short, medium and long term. In response to this recommendation, Alan Simpson, Labour MP for Nottingham South and Chair of the Parliamentary Warm Homes Group tabled an Early Day Motion on the 10th of June 2008 to this effect. The Motion, as of July 22, has so far attracted signatures of over 134 MPs across all parties. 

• Full report
• Summary report
• Early Day Motion