13 August 2010
No serious nation that commits itself to sustainable development principles should sit back and watch both poverty and fuel poverty levels rise. Scottish Government figures estimate that the number of Scottish households living in fuel poverty has now risen to 26.5% and that this is likely to continue to rise as the impact of the recession bites further.
A new report published on 6 August by Consumer Focus Scotland on fuel poverty says that a step change is needed now at Scottish and UK level if targets to eradicate fuel poverty by 2016 have any chance of being achieved. Scotland has a higher rate of fuel poverty than England and Wales, in large part due to the poor energy performance of the country’s housing stock.
The new report, Turning up the heat: Benchmarking Fuel Poverty in Scotland, reveals that differences in the way each nation measures fuel poverty add complexity to how decisions are made about where resources should be targeted. The largest single source of funding for energy efficiency is the Carbon Emissions Reductions Target (CERT) which is distributed at GB level.
Consumer Focus Scotland believes that inconsistency in the measurement of fuel poverty levels across each nation means that these resources may not be geared towards those who need it most in Scotland. The report also compared government policy responses to fuel poverty, which vary between the UK nations. It found that the Scottish approach has significant strengths but that much more could be done by better joined up working.
Read the report below
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Subscribe to this comment's feedwritten by Poor Person , 2010-08-13 15:20:28
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