Cold Homes Week aims to raise awareness about fuel poverty and engage politicians and local communities in the debate. The event has been launched by Energy Bill Revolution an alliance of over 170 charities, businesses and trade unions. This will be the first time that the organisations have teamed together to raise a national issue.
The new definition of fuel poverty classifies someone as ‘fuel poor’ if they are below the poverty line and have an energy bill higher than the median. One in five households in the UK now fall within the new description, with more than two million children living in cold homes. Ed Matthew Director of Energy Bill Revolution said: “That seven million English people struggling in fuel poverty is a national tragedy and the Government’s efforts to solve the problem have so far been utterly inadequate. There’s a simple solution to this crisis – we must stop our homes leaking heat. The Government must make this the UK’s number one infrastructure spending priority.”
Figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that there were over 31,000 excess winter deaths last year, a 29% increase on the previous winter.
The campaign group are calling on the government to recycle carbon taxes back into communities to provide billions of pounds to insulate UK homes. So far 208 members of parliament have pledged their support at the Energy Bill Revolution website.