REPORT ON FUEL POVERY CONSULTATION TO THE SCOTTISH FUEL POVERTY FORUM THE POVERTY ALLIANCE

Transcription

1 REPORT ON FUEL POVERY CONSULTATION TO THE SCOTTISH FUEL POVERTY FORUM THE POVERTY ALLIANCE July 25 th 2008

2 Introduction On 22 nd May 2008 the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Well-Being, Nicola Sturgeon, announced the reconstitution of the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum with an Independent Chair, Rev Graham Blount. The Remit of the Forum is: to advise the Scottish Government on how it can improve on its progress towards the achieving the target to eradicate fuel poverty as far as is reasonably practicable by 2016, within the available public resources The Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum called for evidence on fuel poverty issues in Scotland as part of its remit in order to advise government on workable solutions to fuel poverty in Scotland. The Poverty Alliance in response to this call organised a half- day consultation event on 25 th July 2008 to get views and ideas from a cross section of our membership. The consultation process was in form of a workshop in which focus groups discussed the following four main questions: What does fuel poverty mean to you? What do you think are the causes and effects of fuel poverty on peoples lives in Scotland? What measures should the Scottish Government take to eradicate fuel poverty in Scotland and how? What should be the role of the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum in future? The views expressed in this report are the product of the different group discussions by the participants whose contact details are attached in appendix 1. Group responses to questions 1. What does fuel poverty mean to you? Total inability by families to keep their homes warm because of high gas and electricity costs. Poor housing standards, with inadequate energy efficiency coupled with inability to sufficiently heat which causes dampness, ill health and isolation. Fear of the onset of winter as it means escalating fuel bills and less money to spend on other essential items such as food & clothes. People forced to heat only one room for the whole family, rather than the entire house in order to save money for survival. 2

3 Spending a bigger percentage of income on utility bills, sinking people deeper into debt in order to pay fuel bills sometimes using overdrafts and credit cards. In general, it was noted with concern that fuel poverty is increasingly affecting a wider section of the population, and in rural areas it is more acute considering limited access to the mains gas network hence reliance on other means of energy such as oil and coal. 2. What do you think are the causes and effects of fuel poverty on people s lives in Scotland? Causes Energy companies are only concerned about making money and they care less about the well-being of their customers. Poor housing conditions that are hard to heat or retain heat coupled with low income wages or benefits that are not sufficient to meet the increasing fuel prices. Asylum seekers do not pay energy bills and this leads to complications when they get permission to stay in Scotland. Information & advice on energy suppliers and costs implications is essential to people in this category in the country. Lack of information on rights and support available. Some people just do not claim what they are entitled to Voice of Development Worker -SCARF Widening gap between the rich and poor, where the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting worse. Is there a way Government can redistribute wealth more fairly? Universal central heating is not necessarily universal. Some homes do not have central heating hence expensive to conserve heat. I am stuck with Scottish Power because I have storage heaters. (Voice of participant at the Consultation event - July 25 th 2008) Lack of awareness on support available to alleviate fuel poverty, difficulties with energy efficiency of housing stock, including longer heating regimes in some areas, coupled with limited options to switch energy suppliers tend to exacerbate the problems of fuel poverty in Scotland. Global factors such rising fuel costs as well as the looming economic recession have their own impact on fuel prices. With such global factors at play, the cost of living is going up, so are fuel bills and yet income is not increasing forcing people to feel the pinch. Income and energy prices are reserved matters to The Westminster Government, a situation that leaves the Scottish government with a peripheral role of influencing policy at West Minister rather than taking immediate action. 3

4 Complicated fuel tariffs by different energy companies that are sometimes confusing to consumers. Why are pre-paid meters too expensive for example, and people paying by direct debit cheaper? Effects Fuel poverty among new refugees is relatively high, as the majority of these are living in poor quality housing and on low incomes. People begin to resent home because it is too cold, this may sometimes lead to crime, alcoholism. Some people said their children are embarrassed to bring friends home because of the cold and mould. (Voice of participant July ) Cold homes cause ill health such as bronchitis s, heart problems and mental illness. Inadequate nutrition as a result of lack of sufficient income to feed the family leads to obesity and other diet related conditions. Escalating debt problems in order to make ends meet which adversely affect families by causing frequent mood swings, stress and sometimes-family breakdowns. Excess winter deaths compared to other countries such as Denmark or Norway as people are forced to make hard choices- heat or eat? In most cases people in Scotland choose to eat rather than heat. 3. What measures should the Scottish Government take to eradicate fuel poverty in Scotland and how? Increase funding & support at local level such as drop-in facilities, door to door support to improve benefit take up, more advisers to provide information and advice to vulnerable groups and advocacy through community groups /agencies. The Scottish Government should encourage landlords to be more responsible in providing adequate information on energy efficiency of their homes; alternative energy suppliers as well as making sure that efficient heating systems are in place to facilitate any possible changes required. Government should increase rural support by providing alternative means of heating if conventional means are inadequate. Government should invest in more alternative sources of fuel/energy and renewable energy. Public awareness about this is essential for its success in the long run. Scottish government should invest more in engaging communities in achieving affordable warm homes. Get Scottish Government ministers to live in a cold damp house for a week for them to understand what we go through (Voice of a person living in fuel poverty July 25th 2008) 4

5 People in homeless accommodation always have power card meters this is not fair: (Voice of a woman in a homeless accommodation Glasgow- July 25 th 2008) Government should investigate/ ban all charges on prepaid meters why are they more expensive when it is the same energy suppliers for other customers?. It is penalising people living in poverty in the extreme. (Voice of a disabled person relying on a prepaid meter Glasgow July 25 th 2008) More support, education, and referral is needed for vulnerable people who are institutionalised such as young people leaving care, long term prisoners to enable them gain an understanding as to how to cope with paying bills and keep their homes warm once they get back to the community. Investigate the link between fuel poverty and ill health - draw on the health budget if possible to reduce fuel poverty in order to maximise people s well being. It was argued that it may be cheaper to invest more in preventing fuel poverty related illnesses than treating them. The Scottish Government should upscale on its programmes for new build homes in order to meet the challenges of fuel poverty in Scotland. Most houses still habited today were built long time ago, without due consideration to energy efficiency, and most of these do not meet the current Scottish Housing Quality Standards. The Scottish Government fuel poverty programmes should target people living in fuel poverty, and these should not in anyway be based on benefit proxy. Reverend Graham Blount, Chair of the Forum says that: evidence so far suggests that fuel poverty measures in Scotland including central heating programme and the warm deal are missing the mark with more than half of the household group who currently benefit from fuel poverty programmes not actually fuel poor. Fuel poverty solutions should be covered in mainstream media to reach a wider audience. Scottish Government should, through Ofgem, lobby energy companies to come up with tariffs that are easier to understand and standardised. Lobby energy companies to offer customers an option for free phones in case of complaints/queries to them. Energy Watch should be able to do its job of monitoring fair pricing. This does not seem to be working at the moment. What is the problem? It was observed that the Scottish Government s hands are tied as they do not have power to legislate on income levels and fuel prices. The Scottish Government should therefore lobby Westminster government to deliver more action on realising affordable fuel prices and improved income levels at national level. 5

6 The UK Government should consider nationalising energy companies, may be this could make our life better? (Voice of participant July 25 th 2008) 4. What should be the role of the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum in future? The Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum should act as a public eye, putting pressure on government to act, less rhetoric but more delivery. The Forum should not be like a tiger without teeth, fundamentally, its role is to ensure government listens more to the voices of the people. The Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum should among other things, review local success, and build on these as well as sharing examples of good practice. Membership of the Forum should include people living in fuel poverty to highlight their own experiences and voices. Encourage more media focus on fuel poverty in Scotland TV, radio and newspapers to get the wider views of those with first hand experience of fuel poverty in the debate about the issues. The Forum should monitor government programmes on fuel poverty locally to ascertain whether they are working or not and to facilitate engagement with communities on alternatives to the problems. Learn from other countries experiences of managing fuel poverty- Norway for example has one of the worst winters in the world, and yet they cope better than Scotland. What do they do differently? Can we learn from them? Promote the existence of the Forum and its role. In doing so, this will encourage community groups /organisations to meaningfully engage with them more. Mainstream fuel poverty programmes in other policies and funding regimes in other sectors such as housing, health, social justice, climate change, work and pensions. It is the view of the participants of the consultation event that fuel poverty cuts across all these areas. Promote debate with the general public on fuel poverty as well as support them to take appropriate action to combat it. People must not just accept the status quo. Tackling fuel poverty should be a bottom up approach rather than top down, engaging directly with the people through community groups/organisations /agencies. The Forum should be the spokesperson for the Scottish public on fuel poverty & facilitate the voice of the people to be heard by government. Their role should include gathering evidence and undertaking research to augment their position. 6

7 What participants said they would do to make a difference? Encourage direct action at local level one example being to empower people to speak up by strengthening their voice. Future consultations on the subject should reach more people because fuel poverty in Scotland affects a bigger proportion of the population than the current government estimates. Engage energy companies to harmonise tariffs and improving customer care. Sign posting vulnerable people in the community to appropriate advice/support including enabling people to maximise benefit take up through benefit checks at local levels. Conclusion The consultation participants recognised the fact that the Scottish Government has some limitations in directly effecting changes on reserved matters, however, they stressed that Scotland has MPs in the Westminster Parliament, some of whom hold key ministerial positions. It is envisaged that the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum will advise the Scottish Government to put pressure on Westminster on matters relating to the levels of income and on making sure that fuel prices are fair to consumers. Given the mandate of the Scottish Government on improving the energy efficiency of housing stock, the consultation participants stressed the fact that Scottish Government current programmes on central heating and warm deal are not enough if the majority of the Scottish housing is below the required standard. This consultation therefore recommends strongly the refocusing of funding to building new affordable and more energy efficient homes for the Scottish public. The call for the Scottish Government to improve availability and affordability of housing that meet the standard cannot be underestimated. Meeting the target of eradicating fuel poverty by 2016 is going to be harder if the Scottish housing stock does not improve considerably. Twimukye Mushaka Fieldwork Development Officer The Poverty Alliance 162 Buchanan Street Glasgow G1 2LL 7