Make fuel poverty history

Although it’s still summer, the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly is focusing on helping vulnerable people during the winter months by launching a series of information cards which raise awareness of fuel poverty in the region.

The cards, which are being targeted at local authority members, senior officers and other partner organisations, follow the launch of the Affordable Warmth Action Plan last year.

The Plan, developed after the Regional Housing Strategy emphasised the need for an approach linking national policy and local action, identifies objectives essential in eliminating fuel poverty in the region and meeting national targets.

The Assembly hopes the cards will reinforce the messages set out in the Action Plan and show how partners can get involved and help to deliver the Plan’s objectives.

Fuel poverty affects around 163,000 households in the Yorkshire and Humber region and can be caused by low income, high fuel prices and energy inefficient homes.

Figures show that:

• Around 3200 people die each year in our region because of fuel poverty
• For every 1% increase in gas and electricity prices, the number of vulnerable households increases by 50,000 nationally
• There have been 337,000 excess winter deaths in England over the last ten years

The Assembly’s Regional Housing Board has set a regional target to ‘end fuel poverty for vulnerable households by 2010 and for all households by 2016’ within the Housing Strategy.

An implementation group has now been set up to help meet this target by tackling gaps in funding for affordable warmth and raising awareness of possible solutions for fuel poverty among national, regional and local partners.

The cards are available to download below.

For more information, contact the Assembly.