Ofgem announces new energy price cap

Responding to the news that the price at which the average annual energy bill will be capped has fallen from £1,928 to £1,690, Mike Childs, head of policy at Friends of the Earth, said:

“When energy prices have been so obscenely inflated for such a long time, this announcement might seem like a good thing. But new analysis out today finds there’s a staggering 9.6 million households living in cold, health-threatening, heat-leaking homes which they can’t properly afford to heat given they’re on low incomes, as well as the high cost of food and housing. It’s going to take more than a minor retreat in energy prices to resolve the country’s deeply entrenched cold homes problem.

“Cold homes are also a huge blow to the UK economy through costs to the NHS, days taken off work sick from illnesses associated with cold homes, and reduced educational attainment. There is an urgent need for a bold plan to upgrade the UK’s heat-leaking homes. This would save households hundreds of pounds each year on their bills and significantly reduce the societal costs of cold homes - estimated to be in the tens of billions of pounds annually by the Michael Marmot Institute of Health Equity. Neither of the main political parties have yet developed a plan that comes anywhere close to tackling the scourge of cold homes.”

ENDS

Notes:

1. Friends of the Earth commissioned the UCL Institute of Health Equity to produce a new report examining the health impacts of cold homes. It found that nearly 10 million (9.6m) households are at the point of crisis, because they are living in poorly-insulated, heat-leaking homes and have incomes below the minimum level at which an acceptable standard of living is affordable – meaning that finding enough money to pay for decent housing, enough heating and the basic essentials of life will be out of reach for most.

To read the press release please visit: https://friendsoftheearth.uk/climate/britains-cold-homes-crisis-affecting-nearly-10m-households 

The full report can be found at: https://friendsoftheearth.uk/climate/how-are-uks-cold-homes-impacting-our-health