Warm This Winter report card on Government energy bills progress published

The Warm This Winter campaign published a report card on 1 September 2023 assessing the Government's progress against eight measures to tackle the energy bills crisis. It found no progress on four of the eight, rapid progress needed on three, and one measure going backwards¹.

The report card assessed four measures under the heading of help for people this winter, and four under lowering energy bills for good. On financial support for those most in need, tackling the energy debt mountain, stopping forced prepayment meter installations and an affordable social tariff, the verdict was no progress. On a nationwide insulation drive, developing more renewable energy and clawing back excessive profits, the verdict was rapid progress needed. On reducing the UK's reliance on expensive gas imports, the verdict was going backwards¹.

The report card was published alongside figures presented to the House of Commons Energy Security and Net Zero Committee's inquiry into Government preparations for winter. The End Fuel Poverty Coalition, using official data and Institute of Health Equity methodology, estimated 4,706 excess winter deaths in 2022/23 caused by living in a cold home in England, Scotland and Wales. The comparative figure for winter 2021/22, excluding Northern Ireland, was 3,186. Northern Ireland data was not available. All data was flagged as provisional, with winter defined as December, January, February and March¹.

The same material reported that fewer than 5m of the UK's 28m households could be classed as being in the "energy elite" and unaffected by the energy bills crisis, around 8m have to borrow money to pay their energy bills, and over 1m have disconnected for periods during the year. It said 16% of the population have been able to maintain usual spending so far and expect to continue to do so¹.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition said:

"Thousands of people die every year in cold damp homes and countless more turn to the NHS as existing health conditions worsen due to living in such conditions. Fuel poverty is a public health crisis, but it can only be addressed by economic and engineering solutions."

Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift, part of the Warm This Winter campaign, said there had been "next to no progress on insulating homes or unblocking the barriers to cheaper renewable energy"¹.

Why it matters for households

The report card covers the policy areas that determine what households pay and how much support is available when bills outrun income. Four of the eight measures relate directly to energy bills and the policy costs and levies that sit on them, including the level of financial support, the treatment of energy debt and the cost of prepayment meters. The other four concern the structure of supply: insulation, renewables, gas imports and profits. For a household, the first group shapes this winter's budget; the second shapes whether bills fall over time. The report card's verdict is that neither group is moving at the pace the campaign considers necessary, and that reliance on gas imports is increasing rather than falling. The excess winter deaths figures give the health dimension a number: 4,706 deaths attributed to cold homes across England, Scotland and Wales, against 3,186 the previous winter. Support arrangements differ by nation, with separate systems in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where no excess winter deaths data was available for this period.

What happens next

The House of Commons Energy Security and Net Zero Committee inquiry session starts at 1000 on Wednesday 6 September and can be viewed online¹. The full report card and its source data are published by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition¹.

Sources1 cited

1. Almost 5,000 excess winter deaths caused by cold homes last winter, endfuelpoverty.org.uk