Suppliers must use social tariffs to end fuel poverty

The rising cost of fuel prices means thousands of low-income households are without sufficient heating, said the chief executive of energywatch, Allan Asher, yesterday.

At the annual conference of the National Right to Fuel Campaign at Millbank Tower, London, Asher said: “The energy industry must address this problem and address it now. In the 21st Century we cannot tolerate a situation where a sizeable number of the population is effectively excluded from the right to adequate heating.”

He said new research, revealed yesterday, was likely to show that the number of people in fuel poverty was under-estimated, with thousands overlooked. If so, Asher said everyone had a particular duty to identify the hidden poor and to offer them help.

Asher said: “The choices this group is offered are stark and unenviable. Consumers who struggled to maintain a satisfactory heating regime when prices were low will now be sacrificing warmth in order to afford other priority essentials for themselves and their families.”

Asher said industry would have to accept that a social tariff should be targeted only at those on low incomes. He said it should be permanent and should be available to all groups on low incomes to avoid one low-income group subsidising another.