It continues to be a terrible state of affairs that an annual, national fuel poverty conference is needed, but we remain grateful to NEA for providing this opportunity for local, regional, and national organisations to gather together, hear any breaking news, digest the latest data around fuel poverty and excess winter deaths, and share best practice among ourselves.

The title of this Winter’s conference is disheartening: the Energy Crisis has been with us now for over two years, and while there seems to be a general consensus that energy costs will drop a little further in 2024, there’s no real light at the end of the tunnel for millions of households struggling to cope with massively inflated bills.

Our Business Relationship Manager, Dominic Griffiths, attended the conference to gather insights, and has compiled the following notes:

• NEA’s Chief Executive, Adam Scorer (pictured), delivered a keynote speech, including the worrying statistic that 41% of prepay meters “self-disconnected” during Autumn 2023. Adam says “crisis is when your coping mechanisms fail you.”
• From January 2024, there will be 6.5 million UK households living in fuel poverty.
• Ros Kane from Fuel Bank Foundation advises that, despite the massive rise in energy bills, approximately 90% of prepay customers still like prepay.
• Yes Energy Solutions find only 20% of clients experiencing fuel crisis (i.e. prepay customers at risk of self-disconnection) will continue to engage with additional support offered (e.g. tips on how to reduce ongoing energy bills, and help to apply for grants to make the property warmer and more energy efficient).
• Octopus Energy has recruited social workers to support their staff and customers, due to a rise in “crisis calls” (e.g. domestic violence and suicidal thoughts).
• Frazer Scott, Chief Executive Officer of Energy Action Scotland, advises the Scottish Ambulance Service has produced data showing an increase in ambulances responding to symptoms of hypothermia.
• John French, Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Utility Regulator, advises there are no standing charges on energy meters in Northern Ireland, making us wonder why they’re considered unavoidable by energy suppliers in England.
• During the “retrofitting fuel poor homes: how can we go further and faster?” breakout session, there was general agreement that there needed to be a “fabric first” approach, with “long-term funding” in place. The current iteration of the Energy Company Obligation is due to end in 2026, but we have targets to achieve Net Zero by 2050. We need obligations that span decades, not 2 or 4 years.
• Danni Barnes from NEA described their priorities for “Winter and beyond,” including engaging marginalised communities, focusing on health inequalities, targeting the private rental sector, encouraging smart meter adoption, and retrofit projects

Highlights

There were lots of new faces at the conference. NEA has themselves grown considerably in 2023, recruiting 30 new Energy Advisors. There were also representatives from community organisations who are new to the area of providing energy advice. It was great to hear their enthusiasm for providing advice and support to households in fuel poverty, and/or fuel crisis.

Martin Lewis (pictured) made an appearance, via pre-recorded video link. His enthusiasm for ensuring everybody has all the facts at their disposal can be quite infectious, and until he appeared he’d even been a little conspicuous in his absence. He heaped plenty of praise on the frontline workers present, going into the homes of people in fuel poverty, to address the issues and support with solutions.

Lowlights

Unfortunately, the problem is getting worse, not better. Despite the millions of pounds spent on fuel vouchers, they’re merely a sticking plaster and the underlying cause of the fuel crisis needs to be assessed by a thorough intervention, that people experiencing fuel crisis are not necessarily ready to engage with. There has also been millions of pounds spent on retrofit measures, lifting some households out of fuel poverty. The fact that there is still a rising number of households in fuel poverty suggests these grants and schemes aren’t going far enough, or fast enough.

In the exhibition centre, NEA had laid out some of the “(Not) Coping Strategies” that can be seen in the homes of people experiencing fuel poverty/fuel crisis. Pictured (right) you can see such lowlights as a fridge not being switched on, despite life-saving medicine requiring refrigeration, and a barbecue being used to cook food indoors, which is both a fire safety hazard, and a potential source of lethal carbon monoxide.