Cutting the cost of keeping warm: a new fuel poverty strategy for England

Documents: Cutting the cost of keeping warm: a new fuel poverty strategy for England consultation document

This consultation will help us prepare for the first fuel poverty strategy in over a decade. The consultation seeks to explain how we will move from the broad principles we set out last year in the Framework for Future Action on Fuel Poverty to helping those that need it most, driving cost effective interventions and maintaining our regard for those most vulnerable to the effects of living in a cold home.

Understanding the behaviour of households in fuel poverty

A literature review produced by NatCen and commissioned by DECC on understanding the behaviour of fuel poor households. NatCen carried out a rapid review of the current research available on heating, other energy use, energy bills and energy efficiency related to fuel poor households.

Consultation description

The government has laid draft Regulations before Parliament to put in place a new long term fuel poverty target and we have launched Cutting the cost of keeping warm – a consultation that will help us to prepare for a new fuel poverty strategy setting out how we intend to achieve the new target.

The Fuel Poverty (England) Regulations 2014 set out the objective for addressing the situation of persons in England who live in fuel poverty, as required by section 1A of WHECA. The Regulations will create in law a new fuel poverty target of ensuring that as many fuel poor homes as is reasonably practicable achieve a minimum energy efficiency standard of Band C by 2030.

This consultation builds on a three-year period of detailed work on fuel poverty, which has changed our understanding of the problem and how we need to tackle it. This has included the independent Hills Poverty Review published in March 2012, a Framework for Future Action on Fuel Poverty published in July 2013 and amendments made to the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000 (WHECA) in 2013.

The consultation ‘Cutting the cost of keeping warm’ seeks to explain how we will move from the broad principles we set out last year to helping those that need it most, driving cost effective interventions and maintaining our regard for those most vulnerable to the effects of living in a cold home. We seek views on how we can improve the design and delivery of policy in order to try and meet the target.

We are also proposing to set out the following interim milestones in the new fuel poverty strategy:

• as many fuel poor homes in England as is reasonably practicable to Band E by 2020 –15% of fuel poor households currently live in F and G rated homes
• as many fuel poor homes in England as is reasonably practicable to Band D by 2025 – 46% of fuel poor households currently live in E rated homes

The combination of an ambitious target and a strategy setting out the policies for achieving it will help to ensure that the fuel poor are not left behind as we move forward with plans to meet our wider climate change obligations. At the same time, taking action to tackle fuel poverty will bring wider benefits, supporting jobs, saving carbon and improving health.

Alongside the consultation document, we are also publishing Understanding the Behaviour of Households in Fuel Poverty - a literature review aimed to deepening our understanding of the behaviour of fuel poor households, draft Fuel Poverty (England) Regulations 2014, a Fuel Poverty Energy Efficiency Rating Methodology and the first Triennial Review of the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group (FPAG).

Responses to the consultation

The consultation will run for twelve weeks, during which time we will engage in detail with stakeholders. The consultation will inform the preparation of a new fuel poverty strategy, to be published once the Fuel Poverty (England) Regulations 2014 come into force.

The consultation closes on 07 October 2014.

Consultation responses may be submitted in the template attached and emailed to fuelpovertyconsultation@decc.gsi.gov.uk

Please use the consultation response template to respond to this consultation.