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Fuel Poverty

May I return the compliments of the season to you, Sir Nicholas, and, indeed, to fellow Members? The debate that I have been fortunate enough to secure is topical in many ways, not only because of the recent snow and cold spells that at least some of us have experienced, which reminded us that we still have winter in the UK, but because of the announcement by some energy suppliers of sharp increases in prices for gas and electricity. Those announcements have made the debate one of even greater urgency. Although the media spotlight inevitably falls on these questions at this time of the year, it is not an issue that has just appeared on the political radar in Parliament. The all-party group on debt and personal finance, which I chair, had a joint meeting with the all-party group on poverty at which parliamentarians met grass-roots representatives, experts from the voluntary sector, fuel companies and industry regulators to discuss fuel poverty. We published a joint report following that seminar, and much of my speech will draw on its recommendations. The report is available on my website, for those who wish to pursue it in more detail. No one can be certain exactly where energy prices will go in the future. There have been falls as well as increases in recent years, and there are questions about how far recent increases are due genuinely to world energy prices, or to opportunism by some energy suppliers. Some colleagues might wish to expand on that subject later in the debate. It is, however, pretty clear that whatever else happens, the long-run trend in energy prices will be upward due to market trends, growing demand, some diminishing energy sources and Government policies that are designed to reduce energy use and develop certain energy sources. For many householders, rising energy prices will inevitably lead to more fuel poverty, and if price increases on the scale of those that have been announced recently are repeated generally, as looks likely, many more thousands will surely be dragged into fuel poverty unless something is done about it. I shall outline some areas in which the Government, the regulator and energy companies can do more to deal with the problem of fuel poverty, but I shall also give the Government credit for what they have done to tackle the problem so far. Indeed, the UK was the first country in the world to recognise that fuel poverty was a specific issue, and measures such as the winter fuel payment, central heating programmes and the energy efficiency commitment have all played an important role in tackling fuel poverty. Some 4 million people have been taken out of fuel poverty since 1996, but the reduction has slowed since 2004, when energy price increases started to hit. They have begun to undo much previous good work, and the recent increases will throw many more into fuel poverty if action is not taken.