How Much: The Cost of Alleviating Fuel Poverty

Starting with the central question of 'How Much?' it would cost to alleviate fuel poverty in England, this study has shown that an investment of £4.6bn would result in the application of energy-saving measures to 2.5 million (all current fuel poor) households, eliminating fuel poverty in 71% of households and alleviating it significantly in the remaining 29%. For the remaining fuel poor there is an income gap of approximately £1.02 bn per year. The total cost of alleviating fuel poverty is based upon perfect targeting of measures and eligibility criteria that enables all genuinely fuel poor households to access measures. These conditions do not match the current delivery of measures to fuel poor households which means the cost of measures is likely to be double that shown here, i.e. £9.2 bn. The government is legally committed to eradicating fuel poverty in vulnerable homes by 2010 and in all homes by 2016, wherever practically possible. The study has demonstrated that the current government-funded fuel poverty programme Warm Front and the Energy Efficiency Commitment priority group programme aimed at low income households do not provide the measures required to meet these targets. Specifically, these programmes in practice do not fund measures for 'hard to treat' homes or microgeneration technologies, representing a major gap in policy. Failure to meet UK fuel poverty targets appears likely with current provisions, as it is clear that these do not meet the identified need. This summary is intended as a standalone report as well as a guide to the in-depth report it summarises.