AN Assembly Member who has played an instrumental role in the fight to tackle fuel poverty in Wales has today urged the Welsh Government to place fuel poverty at the heart of action to tackle poverty.
North Wales AM Mark Isherwood Chaired the Cross Party Group on Fuel Poverty during the third and fourth Assembly terms and last week hosted and spoke at the launch of the new Cross Party Group on Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency.
Speaking in his Individual Members Debate on Home Energy Efficiency and Fuel Poverty in the Assembly Chamber this afternoon, he stated that working with Fuel Poverty Coalition Members, the new Cross Party Group will campaign to place Fuel Poverty at the heart of action to tackle poverty, with strong emphasis on all sectors taking responsibility together.
He said:
“In 2012, almost 30% of Welsh households were estimated to be in fuel poverty, spending 10% or more on household income on fuel to maintain heat adequate enough to safeguard comfort and health.
“Investment in home energy efficiency improvements via Welsh and UK Government schemes, combined with changes in household incomes and fuel prices, saw this fall to 23% in 2016, but that still represents 291,000 households in Wales, including 43,000 in severe fuel poverty.
“As the Bevan and Joseph Rowntree Foundations told the Assembly’s Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee two years ago “fuel poverty should have a higher profile in the Welsh Government’s tackling poverty action plan, because it is a fundamental human need to have a warm home”.
“There is no realistic prospect of achieving the 2018 target of eradicating fuel poverty in Wales – and, as Age Cymru state, “many of the mechanisms and measures contained within the Welsh Government’s 2010 Fuel Poverty Strategy are out of date or no longer applicable.
“As NEA Cymru stated at Wales Annual Fuel Poverty Conference in March: “We drastically need a new fuel poverty strategy”, adding “whilst the Welsh Government’s investment in energy efficiency schemes through its Warm Homes Programme is commendable, we need a step change in ambition”.
Calling on the Welsh Government to “develop a new long-term strategy for addressing fuel poverty as a matter of urgency”; “save lives by implementing the NICE guidelines on tackling excess winter deaths”; and “protect vulnerable households with a crisis fund for emergency heating when their health is at risk”, he said: “At last month’s Rural North Flintshire Community Hub launch by the North Wales Energy Advice Centre, we heard that this tackling fuel poverty project, including the Flintshire Affordable Warmth crisis fund, should be a model for spreading across communities in Rural Wales”.
He added: “With almost 1 in 4 households in Wales unable to afford to heat their homes, it is clear that we need to maintain the political focus on fuel poverty and energy efficiency at the National Assembly.
“It is essential that the Welsh Government works with Fuel Poverty Coalition Members to place Fuel Poverty at the heart of action to tackle poverty, engaging with all sectors to maximise the opportunity presented by their working together.”
ENDS