• Contact
  • About
  • Authors
DONATE
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
  • Login
East Anglia Bylines
  • HOME
  • News
    • All
    • Brexit
    • Education
    • Health
    • Welfare
    • World
    Owners of the wooden Dutch built yacht ordered to leave the UK.

    Soviet-style border force order Dutch couple to abandon sailing holiday and go home

    A&E

    Crisis looming for Southend Hospital and the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust

    Luton town hall

    Luton Deputy Mayor regrets Covid breach

    Liz Truss

    EU taking legal action against UK over Northern Ireland protocol: how did we get here?

    Rook

    Northern Ireland Protocol Bill results in Cambridge lab losing its EU funding

    17 May BPI occupation

    BP hypocrisy on climate challenged by Cambridge sit-in

    People in masks

    Eight changes the world needs to make to live with COVID

    Queen Elizabeth II Crossing

    Anxiety grows over viability of planned Lower Thames Crossing

    Norfolk for Europe March

    Goodbye, Leave and Remain?

    • Brexit
    • Health
    • Education
    • World
  • Opinion
  • Politics
    • Local government
    • Justice
    • Activism
  • Climate
    • Environment
  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Community
    • Culture
    • History
    • Humour
    Stapleford Granary concert hall

    July classical events at Stapleford Granary, Cambridge

    Suffolk SketchFest is back

    Traditional beers by the Brentwood Brewing Company.

    Brentwood’s own craft beer company

    People in masks

    Eight changes the world needs to make to live with COVID

    Norwich Floods in 1912: handing a loaf to a flooded-out cottager

    Spectre of 1953 looms as East Anglia faces flood warnings

    University of East Anglia. Photo by Michael John Button via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

    A civic university for the East

    Southend Section 60 map

    Police issue Dispersal Order in Southend

    Ukraine wins Eurovision 2022

    Sam Ryder helps Eurovision’s possible return to the UK

    Robert Walpole

    Walpole: When did the end game begin?

    • Community
    • Culture
    • History
    • Humour
    • Property
  • Business
    • All
    • Economics
    • Finance
    • Transport
    RMT Ipswich Branch

    Mick Lynch and a new wave of trade unionists

    Traditional beers by the Brentwood Brewing Company.

    Brentwood’s own craft beer company

    Sunak & Johnson

    The economics of the government’s pay disputes don’t stack

    Queen Elizabeth II Crossing

    Anxiety grows over viability of planned Lower Thames Crossing

    Rishi Sunak

    There is a solution to public sector pay disputes if the government wants to find one

    'For sale' boards.

    Housing Association “Right to Buy” proposal is ‘just wrong’ say experts

    East Anglia One windfarm

    One in three Suffolk manufacturing jobs lost since Tories came to power

    Foodbank parcels

    Hunger crisis: is it a national emergency?

    Mortgage debt.

    Sub-prime from Hollywood farce comes to UK housing

    • Economics
    • Finance
    • Transport
    • Farming
  • ANGLIA
    • All
    • Anglia
    • Bedfordshire
    • Cambridgeshire
    • Essex
    • Hertfordshire
    • Norfolk
    • Suffolk
    Saffron Walden turf maze

    Essex town fighting health threat of poor air quality

    Latton Island campaigners

    Rich and poor dispute new Essex river crossing

    Owners of the wooden Dutch built yacht ordered to leave the UK.

    Soviet-style border force order Dutch couple to abandon sailing holiday and go home

    Fertiliser spreading

    Fertiliser – Where there’s muck…

    Stapleford Granary concert hall

    July classical events at Stapleford Granary, Cambridge

    A&E

    Crisis looming for Southend Hospital and the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust

    Suffolk SketchFest is back

    Traditional beers by the Brentwood Brewing Company.

    Brentwood’s own craft beer company

    Sailing barges, Colne estuary.

    The River Colne – where nature, history and modern life collide

    • East Anglia
    • Bedfordshire
    • Cambridgeshire
    • Essex
    • Hertfordshire
    • Norfolk
    • Suffolk
  • Series
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • News
    • All
    • Brexit
    • Education
    • Health
    • Welfare
    • World
    Owners of the wooden Dutch built yacht ordered to leave the UK.

    Soviet-style border force order Dutch couple to abandon sailing holiday and go home

    A&E

    Crisis looming for Southend Hospital and the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust

    Luton town hall

    Luton Deputy Mayor regrets Covid breach

    Liz Truss

    EU taking legal action against UK over Northern Ireland protocol: how did we get here?

    Rook

    Northern Ireland Protocol Bill results in Cambridge lab losing its EU funding

    17 May BPI occupation

    BP hypocrisy on climate challenged by Cambridge sit-in

    People in masks

    Eight changes the world needs to make to live with COVID

    Queen Elizabeth II Crossing

    Anxiety grows over viability of planned Lower Thames Crossing

    Norfolk for Europe March

    Goodbye, Leave and Remain?

    • Brexit
    • Health
    • Education
    • World
  • Opinion
  • Politics
    • Local government
    • Justice
    • Activism
  • Climate
    • Environment
  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Community
    • Culture
    • History
    • Humour
    Stapleford Granary concert hall

    July classical events at Stapleford Granary, Cambridge

    Suffolk SketchFest is back

    Traditional beers by the Brentwood Brewing Company.

    Brentwood’s own craft beer company

    People in masks

    Eight changes the world needs to make to live with COVID

    Norwich Floods in 1912: handing a loaf to a flooded-out cottager

    Spectre of 1953 looms as East Anglia faces flood warnings

    University of East Anglia. Photo by Michael John Button via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

    A civic university for the East

    Southend Section 60 map

    Police issue Dispersal Order in Southend

    Ukraine wins Eurovision 2022

    Sam Ryder helps Eurovision’s possible return to the UK

    Robert Walpole

    Walpole: When did the end game begin?

    • Community
    • Culture
    • History
    • Humour
    • Property
  • Business
    • All
    • Economics
    • Finance
    • Transport
    RMT Ipswich Branch

    Mick Lynch and a new wave of trade unionists

    Traditional beers by the Brentwood Brewing Company.

    Brentwood’s own craft beer company

    Sunak & Johnson

    The economics of the government’s pay disputes don’t stack

    Queen Elizabeth II Crossing

    Anxiety grows over viability of planned Lower Thames Crossing

    Rishi Sunak

    There is a solution to public sector pay disputes if the government wants to find one

    'For sale' boards.

    Housing Association “Right to Buy” proposal is ‘just wrong’ say experts

    East Anglia One windfarm

    One in three Suffolk manufacturing jobs lost since Tories came to power

    Foodbank parcels

    Hunger crisis: is it a national emergency?

    Mortgage debt.

    Sub-prime from Hollywood farce comes to UK housing

    • Economics
    • Finance
    • Transport
    • Farming
  • ANGLIA
    • All
    • Anglia
    • Bedfordshire
    • Cambridgeshire
    • Essex
    • Hertfordshire
    • Norfolk
    • Suffolk
    Saffron Walden turf maze

    Essex town fighting health threat of poor air quality

    Latton Island campaigners

    Rich and poor dispute new Essex river crossing

    Owners of the wooden Dutch built yacht ordered to leave the UK.

    Soviet-style border force order Dutch couple to abandon sailing holiday and go home

    Fertiliser spreading

    Fertiliser – Where there’s muck…

    Stapleford Granary concert hall

    July classical events at Stapleford Granary, Cambridge

    A&E

    Crisis looming for Southend Hospital and the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust

    Suffolk SketchFest is back

    Traditional beers by the Brentwood Brewing Company.

    Brentwood’s own craft beer company

    Sailing barges, Colne estuary.

    The River Colne – where nature, history and modern life collide

    • East Anglia
    • Bedfordshire
    • Cambridgeshire
    • Essex
    • Hertfordshire
    • Norfolk
    • Suffolk
  • Series
No Result
View All Result
East Anglia Bylines
No Result
View All Result

East among hardest hit this winter when poverty may mean eat or heat

Fuel poverty is on the increase thanks to spiralling energy prices and the government's Universal Credit cut.

Rob ColwellbyRob Colwell
October 6, 2021
in Anglia, Economics, UK
Fuel poverty caused by Tory policy. Photo by Katrina_S on Pixabay (CC BY 2.0)

Fuel poverty caused by Tory policy. Photo by Katrina_S on Pixabay (CC BY 2.0)

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

For many in East Anglia this winter, the demoralising question may be whether to eat or heat.

Our region has some of the hardest-hit local authorities in the country. Norwich is among the ten worst affected, with King’s Lynn, West Norfolk and Ipswich also having among the most vulnerable energy consumers in England.

Fuel poverty is on the increase

A huge increase in the wholesale price of gas, added to other tough economic factors, will leave millions across the country being forced to make hard choices this winter to avoid falling into debt.

As a result, a phrase we are going to be hearing in the media is “fuel poverty”. The term applies to anyone who, if they spent the amount needed to keep them warm, would then be left with a residual income that would put them below the official poverty line.

Spiralling gas and electricity costs

This increase in fuel poverty will be caused by a convergence of three factors:

  • low income
  • high fuel prices and
  • poor energy efficiency

Since January 2021 the wholesale price of gas has risen 250 percent. The wholesale market is where suppliers like British Gas buy energy. Any increase they pay will be passed on to customers.

According to renewable energy specialist Octopus Energy, nearly half of Great Britain’s power still comes from burning gas. They blame a global dependence on gas and supply problems from Russia. They also take aim at the skyrocketing price of carbon offsets. This is a scheme that allows energy companies to ‘neutralise’ their carbon emissions by investing in ‘green’ projects.

This huge price-rise has a knock-on effect on electricity tariffs as gas is used to generate a third of our electric needs.

Consumers left vulnerable as energy companies go bust

Many of the smaller players in the energy market are unable to pay the higher prices for gas supplies. As a result, quite a few have gone bust – nine in September alone – with more expected by the end of the year. Energy regulator, Ofgem, have stepped in to transfer over two million consumers to new suppliers.

The problem is that many of these consumers had tried to insulate themselves from unexpected price rises and had been benefiting from fixed unit rates. They will now face much higher tariffs with their new provider in a process they had no say in. 

Another huge blow to consumers struggling with bills is the big increase to the Energy Price Cap. This is a limit, set by Ofgem, on the maximum amount a provider can charge customers for the energy it supplies.

Energy price cap rise

From 1st October millions of households will face a rise in energy bills that will leave customers up to £246 a year worse off.

With Universal credit payments being cut today by £20 a week and high inflation that’s expected to rise further – it’s likely these increases will drag over a million more households into fuel poverty this winter.

The current estimated 4.1 million households classed as living in fuel poverty is likely to rise to 5.3 million. This would equate to over one in five households in England. 

fuel poverty eat or heat
Fuel poverty: “eat or heat”. Photo by PxHere (CC BY 2.0)

Norwich South MP Clive Lewis said:

Citizens Advice showed that 1.7 million households will face higher energy prices as their suppliers fail, with those on the lowest incomes facing more significant shocks. The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit says that “families that live in homes with lower energy efficiency ratings are suffering the most financially from global gas price increases.” They will pay up to the equivalent of £246 more on their annual gas bills.

The government’s forthcoming Heat and Buildings Strategy is a vital opportunity to permanently end fuel poverty. Done properly, it could reduce bills, improve health, and cut emissions at the same time.

Labour is now committed to spending £6bn a year over a decade to improve the energy efficiency of homes and cut energy bills, and I’m backing the New Economic Foundation’s Great Homes Upgrade campaign to retrofit 19 million homes by 2030.

‘Cynical ministerial ploy’

Former Prime Minster Gordon Brown has referred to the government’s newly announced £500 million ‘hardship fund’ as a “cynical ministerial ploy”. He called on the Chancellor Rishi Sunak to abandon today’s £20 universal credit cut. Brown cited research by York University that showed the number of households spending over ten percent of their income on energy bills is predicted to reach 3.5 million. He said 2021 is the worst time to be poor in Britain. Food prices are rising, fuel prices are rising, and benefits are being cut.

Will this government realise the desperate situation many are in and reverse planned Universal Credit cuts and protect the most vulnerable? Or will voters speak with their feet after a harsh winter of discontent? The Conservatives may come home to a real fire.


Tags: Poverty
Previous Post

National Poetry Day in East Anglia

Next Post

Awash with the highly skilled, the real high earner will be the bloke who’s prepared to empty the bins

Rob Colwell

Rob Colwell

Related Posts

House of Commons
Politics

GrubbyGates

byMadge McClary
July 3, 2022
Latton Island campaigners
Anglia

Rich and poor dispute new Essex river crossing

byJessica Walsh
July 2, 2022
Owners of the wooden Dutch built yacht ordered to leave the UK.
Anglia

Soviet-style border force order Dutch couple to abandon sailing holiday and go home

byLesley Walker
July 1, 2022
Fertiliser spreading
Anglia

Fertiliser – Where there’s muck…

byRobert Gunn
July 1, 2022
Stapleford Granary concert hall
Anglia

July classical events at Stapleford Granary, Cambridge

byAnna Damski
June 30, 2022
Next Post
High skilled high earner. Flying the flag. Photo by John Radcliffe at Pixabay (CC BY 2.0)

Awash with the highly skilled, the real high earner will be the bloke who's prepared to empty the bins

Want to support us?

Can you help East Anglia Bylines to grow and become more sustainable with a regular donation, no matter how small?  

DONATE

Sign up to our newsletter

If you would like to receive the East Anglia Bylines regular newsletter, straight talking direct to your inbox, click the button below.

NEWSLETTER

LATEST

House of Commons

GrubbyGates

July 3, 2022
Saffron Walden turf maze

Essex town fighting health threat of poor air quality

July 3, 2022
Latton Island campaigners

Rich and poor dispute new Essex river crossing

July 2, 2022
Mr Pecksniff (Social Media)

Pecksniff’s Diary

July 1, 2022

MOST READ

Owners of the wooden Dutch built yacht ordered to leave the UK.

Soviet-style border force order Dutch couple to abandon sailing holiday and go home

July 1, 2022
Saffron Walden turf maze

Essex town fighting health threat of poor air quality

July 3, 2022
Boris Johnson and his cabinet.

Our government is killing democracy by a thousand cuts

May 3, 2022
House of Commons

GrubbyGates

July 3, 2022

Tags

Activism Art Brexit Business Cambridgeshire Climate Community COP26 Culture Democracy Development Economics Economy Education Employment Energy Environment Farming Health Humour Hymns International Women's Day Justice Letters Local elections 2022 Local government National Grid NHS Norfolk Pandemic Partygate Party politics Pecksniff Poetry Politics Poverty Rivers of East Anglia Sewage Sizewell Social care Suffolk Ukraine VAWG Welfare Wildlife
East Anglia Bylines

East Anglia Bylines is a regional online newspaper that supports citizen journalism. Our aim is to publish well-written, fact-based articles and opinion pieces on subjects that are of interest to people in East Anglia and beyond.

Learn more about us

No Result
View All Result
  • About us
    • Contact us
    • Bylines Network
    • Complaints
    • Newsletter
    • Privacy Policy
    • Donate
  • UK
  • Anglia
  • About us
  • UK
  • Anglia

© 2022 East Anglia Bylines. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • News
    • Brexit
    • Health
    • Education
    • World
  • Opinion
  • Politics
    • Local government
    • Justice
    • Activism
  • Climate
    • Environment
  • Lifestyle
    • Community
    • Culture
    • History
    • Humour
    • Property
  • Business
    • Economics
    • Finance
    • Transport
    • Farming
  • ANGLIA
    • East Anglia
    • Bedfordshire
    • Cambridgeshire
    • Essex
    • Hertfordshire
    • Norfolk
    • Suffolk
  • Series

© 2022 East Anglia Bylines. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In