Energy Projects Plus hosts the ‘Fuel Poverty Across Liverpool City Region’ conference to help shape action on fuel poverty across the City Region.
On Thursday 21 March, Energy Projects Plus hosted a fuel poverty conference at the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, bringing together stakeholders from across the City Region to develop a strategic approach to affordable warmth.
Fuel poverty, the inability to keep warm at an affordable cost, is a significant issue across Liverpool City Region with more than 1 in 5 households suffering.
It is recognised that coordinated cross-sector action is vital to tackle this problem and Energy Projects Plus works closely with Liverpool City Region authorities to ensure that fuel poverty is kept firmly on the agenda.
With support from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Joe Anderson, the Mayor of Liverpool and James Jones, the Bishop of Liverpool we recognised the extent to which fuel poverty impacts on other policy areas such as health and wellbeing, financial inclusion and child poverty and sought to identify ways forward for the City Region.
Key speakers included Councillor Tim Moore (Cabinet Member for Transport and Climate Change, Liverpool City Council), David Colbourne (Chair of the Northwest Carbon Action Network), Niall Cooper (National Coordinator for Church Action on Poverty) and Dr Janet Atherton (President of the Association of Directors of Public Health).
We also facilitated a series of highly interactive workshop discussions to share knowledge, identify barriers to improvement and cover key influences on fuel poverty, including household energy standards, household income and fuel prices.
Energy Projects Plus Chief Executive, Peter Owen said; “Feedback from delegates has been extremely positive and highlights the commitment across a wide range of organisations and sectors to tackle fuel poverty. There has also been support to update the previous Merseyside Affordable Warmth strategy and extend it to the City Region, which we will look to take forward with local authorities and other sector partners.”