The Welsh Liberal Democrats have today outlined their backing for the Fuel Poverty Bill, but have warned that Wales would not see the full benefits of the Bill if it is passed because of the Barnett Formula.
The Bill will provide for a massive ‘fuel poverty-proofing’ of the existing housing stock in England to bring older homes up to current energy efficiency standards, and will also introduce social tariffs to reduce the energy bills of the most vulnerable groups. Any new money for energy efficiency measures will mean that Wales will get a corresponding share decided on the basis of the Barnett Formula, which is based on the population of Wales relative to England.
However, as the Welsh housing stock would take more money per head to bring up to standard, and with higher levels of fuel poverty in Wales, any extra money arising from the Barnett Formula would fall short of the need in Wales.
The most recent figures available suggest that fuel poverty levels in Wales are almost double that in England, in 2006 11.5% of households in England were fuel poor, while in Wales this figure was 19.5%. Due to the rise in fuel costs in the last year, National Energy Action Cymru has estimated that 340,000 Welsh households are now in fuel poverty, around 1 in 3. Home energy efficiency figures show that 26.7% of homes in England have loft insulation of less than 100mm, compared to a figure of 33.8% in Wales.
On Monday the Welsh Assembly Government launched the consultation on the National Energy Efficiency and Savings Plan which will review the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (HEES) amongst other fuel poverty policies. Since HEES began in 2000 over 200,000 energy efficiency measures have been installed in Wales. However the scheme has been less effective at targeting the fuel poor – when the scheme was reviewed in 2005, it was estimated that only 29% of householders receiving HEES grants were likely to be in fuel poverty.
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