The Warm This Winter campaign launched on 26 August in response to the growing energy bills crisis, backed by anti-poverty and environmental organisations including Save the Children, WWF and the End Fuel Poverty Coalition1. Its demands of government are emergency financial support for people facing poverty this winter, a funded programme of home upgrades and insulation, more than tripling renewable energy in the UK by 2030, and an end to opening new oil and gas fields1.
The End Fuel Poverty Coalition, part of the campaign, estimates that 16.4 million people in 6.9 million UK households will still be left in fuel poverty in winter 2022/23 without government support, of which about 5.3 million households will be in England1. That estimate assumes a price freeze at £2,500 from 1 October 2022, based on multiple media reports, and takes account of the £400 of promised support, which would bring the effective figure to £2,1001. On levels of support pledged up to 5 September 2022, the coalition estimated 21 million people in around 9 million homes, 32 per cent, would be in fuel poverty from 1 October, rising to around 28 million people in 12 million UK households, 42 per cent, from January 2023 unless urgent action was taken1.
The coalition said over twenty neighbourhoods in Birmingham, Bradford, Coventry, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, Stoke and Wolverhampton could see fuel poverty rates above 75 per cent of households from 1 October 2022, with some close to every household1. Over 400 neighbourhoods, 411 in total, were expected to see fuel poverty exceeding 55 per cent of households1. At local authority level, the areas worst affected were listed as Barnsley, Birmingham, Coventry, Hull, Leicester, Manchester, Nottingham, Norwich, Sandwell, Stoke-on-Trent and Wolverhampton1.
"The Government's plans focus on offering welcome universal support through a price freeze, but we also need additional help for the millions of households in fuel poverty who are already struggling."
Separate modelling by Tax Justice UK found that a 95 per cent excess profits tax on North Sea oil and gas companies could raise up to £44 billion a year for two years1. The Warm This Winter petition had been signed by 120,000 people since its launch the previous weekend, while Fuel Poverty Action's Energy For All petition had been signed by 557,000 people and was to be delivered to the new Prime Minister on 19 September1.
Why it matters for households
The figures describe how many homes are expected to be spending a disproportionate share of income on energy, and how unevenly that falls across the country. For a household, fuel poverty status reflects the relationship between income, energy bills and the cost of heating a particular property, so poorly insulated homes and lower incomes carry the greatest risk. The campaign's second demand, a funded programme of home upgrades and insulation, addresses the fabric of the property rather than the price of the fuel, which is the part of the bill a household can influence over the longer term. Its third and fourth demands, on renewables and oil and gas licensing, concern where the country's energy comes from and therefore the exposure of bills to volatile international gas prices, the subject covered in Energy Bills and Energy Independence.
What happens next
The Warm This Winter petition was to be delivered to the new Prime Minister on 19 September1. Fuel Poverty Action's Energy For All petition, signed by 557,000 people, was also to be delivered to the new Prime Minister on 19 September1. The campaign also sent a briefing to MPs and peers urging a national rollout of home insulation and renewables1. No government response to the campaign's demands has been reported.