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Gordon Lishman, Director General of Age Concern, said:

“Helping 100,000 households is just a drop in the ocean. We estimate that 250,000 older households have been pushed into fuel poverty by price hikes this year alone. Although the increase to spending £150 million a year in three years time1 is welcome, this is still inadequate to deal with the scale of the problem.

“The government is quite simply failing the most vulnerable by not taking more action on this issue. This announcement will not paper over the cracks in its fuel poverty strategy.  Even some of the energy companies have admitted voluntary social tariffs are a joke. Only by establishing mandatory social tariffs can the problem really begin to be addressed.“

Factifile:

• Age Concern estimates around 2.25 million older households are now living in fuel poverty, with 250,000 of these pushed into fuel poverty by the price hikes this year alone.
• Fuel poverty is when a household needs to spend 10% or more of its income to meet fuel costs.
  When the Winter Fuel Payment was first paid it covered over a third of the average fuel bill it now covers less than a fifth.
• The average energy bill has increased by 80% since January 2003, rising from £572 Jan 03 to £1027 March 2008.
• An energy bill of £1,027 would absorb 16 per cent of the income of a single pensioner dependent on the pension credit minimum guarantee and the £200 Winter Fuel Payment.
• According to a survey by uswitch.com fewer than on in ten of people affected by fuel poverty, less than 400,000 consumers, receive any subsidies from social tariffs.
• There were 22,300 excess winter deaths of older people last year - nearly 90 per cent of all excess winter deaths are of people over the age of 65.
• Almost one in three older people live in homes with inadequate heating or insulation making their homes more difficult to heat and/or keep warm.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1. Energy firms have collectively spent £50million on social assistance schemes in the last year.  Spending will increase to £100million this year, 125million in 2009-10 and £150million in 2010-11.

Age Concern’s 5 point challenge on pensioner fuel poverty:

• The government should increase the Winter Fuel Payment by at least £100.
• The state pension should be re-linked to earnings urgently.
• The extra VAT revenue the government receives from fuel price increases should be put into energy efficiency schemes.
• More money should be given to increasing the maximum Warm Front grant available.
• Through the Energy Bill the government should make it compulsory for energy companies to offer meaningful social tariffs to vulnerable groups.