Your location: Families face 'eat or heat' choice
10 September 2008
On the eve of the announcement of a Government package to help people with their fuel bills, Shelter chief executive Adam Sampson has highlighted the plight of families who face a stark choice between food and fuel bills.
The Government's package to help up to 11 million homes with their energy bills will be revealed on Thursday 11 September. The money will come from a £3 billion fund to be provided by utility companies over the next three years, as part of an existing carbon emission reduction programme.
Under this programme four million of the poorest households, people receiving benefit, and those over 70, will be able to claim free loft and cavity insulation. More affluent households will be eligible for discounts on household improvements to reduce their energy consumption.
The government is also seeking to persuade energy companies to contribute an additional £800m to the existing fund voluntarily. In return there is speculation that the Chancellor Alistair Darling is unlikely to commit to a windfall tax of utility companies, who have made huge profits at a time of steep rises in energy prices.
Shelter chief executive, Adam Sampson, said: ‘As fuel bills soar, parents are faced with the stark and difficult choice between eat or heat, and for most poor families heating doesn't necessarily come top of their list of spending priorities.’
Mr Sampson added, ‘this package has to respond urgently to the scale of the problem and the huge repercussions heating a home has for families on a low income. Although insulation and double glazing will help in the future, it will be too little too late for more than half a million children who are forced to live in inadequately heated flats and houses, and who face a winter of cold beds and damp rooms.’
