An End to Fuel Poverty?

With more and more customers falling into the fuel poverty* trap (latest estimates are around 4.8 million homes) Energylinx asks the question why government departments have not focused on resolving this at grass roots levels by encouraging customers to simply switch energy supplier to the least cost supplier.

Energylinx predicts that with careful management of those customer's transferring, ensuring that they do geniunely receive a 100% impartial comparison, that the likelihood is that fuel poverty could be eradicated in the UK almost overnight. The only negative issue is that if this was to happen energy suppliers would be forced to increase energy costs as they simply could not maintain their current competitive position with the sheer number of new customers joining them at the most competitive rates.

Energylinx predicts that if in an ideal world that all 4.8million fuel poor switch supplier to the least cost supplier for their household then energy prices across the board would need to increase by circa. 3% to allow suppliers to maintain current profit margins. The result is that the 4.8 million homes taken out of fuel poverty some 600,000 would ultimately fall back into that position.

At this level government initiatives could readily help reduce this further by the use of programmes such as http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/Benefits/BenefitsInRetirement/DG_185940.
With some simple changes to this very welcome programme a further 150,000 households could easily be helped out of the pain of fuel poverty. A further easy change would be stop paying the 63,740 pensioners who are resident full time outside the UK their Santa fund** ....................oops winter fuel payment! The winter fuel payment was introduced back in 1997 to help those over 60 manage their energy bills and cope with the winter temperatures. Last year those payments amounted to circa. £14million to those living outside the UK.