Where is fuel poverty in the party manifestos?

This week dreams of balmy Spring sunshine have been put on hold. With some parts of the country facing the prospect of a white Easter, the issue of fuel poverty is once again receiving particular interest from policy makers.

Today sees the publication of the Energy and Climate Change Committee’s report of its inquiry into fuel poverty. It highlights the fact the Government is likely to miss its 2010 and 2016 targets to eradicate fuel poverty and suggests that a ‘road map’ is needed to set out how the 2016 target will be met. The report contains some other interesting proposals on improving data so that measures can be better targeted and reviewing the markets for fuels for people who are not connected to the mains gas network.

All of the proposals are welcome but of course the question is whether any will be picked up in election manifestos.

Winter Fuel Payments (made to everyone over the age of 60) have always been a vote winner despite the fact that they are an exceptionally inefficient way to tackle fuel poverty. Only a small proportion of pensioners are living in fuel poverty, yet this measure cost the Treasury £2.7 billion last year alone. Scrapping this payment ahead of an election might be politically unwise (and both Labour and the Conservatives have pledged to continue it) yet it desperately needs to be reformed so that it is better targeted at those in need, as we have argued in our recent report The Long Cold Winter.

What other fuel poverty measures are likely to make it into the manifestos? The Government has championed fuel poverty as an issue but its strategy has not been able to match the sharp rises in energy prices seen over the last few years. Even with the new price support measures in the Energy Bill it is still hard to see how targets for 2016 will be met. The Liberal Democrats also emphasise the importance of tackling fuel poverty and have proposed an energy efficiency programme to insulate 1 million fuel poor homes. The Conservatives, however, have been much quieter on this issue and have put forward very little in the way of concrete proposals for addressing fuel poverty.

Energy prices are forecast to continue rising over the coming decade, which means that fuel poverty is set to increase. If the current cold weather focuses manifesto writers’ minds on developing robust policies to deal with the problem then we may stand a better chance of achieving affordable warmth for all.

Jenny Bird