VULNERABLE families and households are facing a “fuel poverty crisis”, a report has warned just weeks after world leaders gathered in Glasgow to discuss climate change and energy efficiency at COP26.
Social enterprise The Wise Group found an 185% jump in energy advice enquiries during the Covid-19 pandemic.
More than a quarter of its customers are rationing and self-disconnecting their energy supply, saying they cannot afford to pay their bill.
The Wise Group’s Lights Off To Lights On report included responses from the Greater Glasgow and Tyne and Wear areas.
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Citing figures suggesting that 24.6% of Scots households (613,000) live in fuel poverty, its chief executive Sean Duffy described the situation as a crisis.
He said: “Almost a quarter of Scots live in fuel poverty.
“As a result, vulnerable people are choosing to self-disconnect their energy supply to save money, and as the temperatures drop, the decision to choose between eating and heating becomes increasingly stark.
“We have seen increasing numbers choosing to disconnect their energy supply, or at risk of self-disconnection for a variety of reasons. These households are hidden from the traditional ‘in debt’ description of the ‘vulnerable customer’ because they have chosen to disconnect.
“At The Wise Group, we are working hard to support and mentor as many customers in this position as possible.”
The report also sought to quantify the impact of the social enterprise – saying that its colleagues and mentors were able to help save customers £1.5 million in written-off debt and energy savings in the first year of Covid-19.
Almost all (95%) Wise Group customers reported increased confidence in managing energy usage and costs independently, with 90.9% describing their mentoring as “excellent”.
The research found that vulnerable households are among the “greenest”, being twice as likely to recycle as the UK average, but many feel excluded from the net-zero initiatives at the heart of the discussions.
Two thirds of respondents felt unable to consider buying an electric vehicle, installing solar panels or installing more energy efficient heating.
Despite this, more than 90% said they regularly recycled – and many have become the involuntary greenest in the UK because they are forced to cut their supplies.
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Emma Howe, from Glasgow, a Wise Group mentor dealing with some of the most acute cases reported, said: “The sad thing is a lot of our customers are probably the ones who are doing the most, because they are not using [any energy]. So, they’re probably the ‘greenest’ in society, but it’s not through choice necessarily.”
Meter type also posed serious problems for Wise Group customers, with incompatible meter types leaving some unable to pay their bills and facing spiralling debt.
One respondent – a 75-year-old woman with cancer – spent two years without heating in her home as she struggled to get a replacement meter, moving around her home with a duvet and hot water bottle, until she connected with the social enterprise.
Duffy added: “Behind these shocking figures are real stories of people wrapped in a duvet all day to keep warm, scared of sending their kids to school smelling of damp, unable to boil the kettle or cook their dinner, terrified of the next energy bill.”
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