British Gas announced today that electricity and gas prices would be increasing by 6% for their customers. Other major energy suppliers are expected to raise their energy prices over the winter.
The price increase comes at a time when there are already 6 million households in fuel poverty across the UK, spending more than 10% of their income paying their energy bills.
Ed Matthew, Campaign Director of the Energy Bill Revolution said: “This increase will plunge many more homes into fuel poverty. That means more financial hardship, more hospital admissions and more suffering for children and the elderly. The Government’s energy efficiency policies are badly under-funded and must be supported by major public investment if they are to have any chance of success. The Government must support the Energy Bill Revolution to use the billions it will raise in carbon revenue to super-insulate all the homes of the fuel poor. It is the only permanent solution to end the suffering.”
The Government has a legal duty to do everything practicable to end fuel poverty by 2016. If gas prices increase as the Government projects then 9 million households could be in fuel poverty by this deadline. The Energy Bill Revolution campaign is now supported by over 100 major national organisations and companies across the UK.
The Energy Bill Revolution alliance is calling for carbon tax to be recycled back to households to make their homes super-energy efficient. This is the only permanent way to drive down household energy bills and end fuel poverty. It could also quadruple carbon emission savings from households compared to the government’s new energy efficiency policies and create up to 200,000 more jobs.
To find out more about the Energy Bill Revolution Campaign, visit www.energybillrevolution.org and for the list of 100 alliance organisations, see www.energybillrevolution.org/whos-behind-it
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