MP MANUELA Perteghella has demanded urgent action from the Government as figures show 6,404 households in the Stratford area are estimated to be living in fuel poverty.
Following the chancellor’s Budget announcement to cut funding for energy efficiency schemes such as the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), the Stratford MP has called on the Government to “get serious” about lowering energy bills for good.
Data reveals the ECO scheme has installed 2,946 ECO measures in Stratford, providing desperately needed insulation for families who are struggling to meet heating costs.
The Government’s decision to cut the ECO scheme will leave thousands of families in draughty homes and facing high energy bills, when as much as half of the government’s energy bill support announced in the Budget will expire in three years’ time.
Liberal Democrats are calling for the government to fully fund home insulation measures with an emergency home upgrade programme to provide free insulation and heat pumps for people on low incomes. The party has also called for the biggest green levy on people’s electricity bills (the Renewables Obligation) to be removed immediately and for the government to halve energy bills by 2035 by breaking the link between electricity and gas prices.
Dr Perteghella said: “Across Stratford-on-Avon, 6,404 households living in fuel poverty face the heart-breaking choice between heating and eating.
“Lots of people in our constituency live in rural areas where there are limited energy options. There’s a heavier reliance on off-grid solutions when compared to urban centres that have had more development. People in rural communities are far more likely to rely on alternative or renewable energy to plug the gaps and this is often more expensive.
“As we head into winter, the Government must get serious about lowering people’s bills for good. Raiding schemes that help families bring down their energy costs to make the sums add up in the Budget is shortsighted and will leave people struggling with their energy bills worse off.
“We need an ambitious emergency home upgrade programme to make homes warm and cheap to heat now and in future. The Liberal Democrats have a clear plan to upgrade homes and halve bills.”
