More households fall into fuel poverty

Official government figures show almost 3 million vulnerable households have fallen into lnerable households have fallen into "fuel poverty" in 2006, showing an increase of 700,000 over the 2005 statistics. Fuel poverty is defined as households who spend more than 10% of their income on fuel.

The fear is that as the official government statistics take some time to be published, the true position regarding fuel poverty today is far worse, given the large increases in the cost of energy between 2006 and now. A situation that will be exacerbated further as this winters price hikes filter though to the central heating bills hitting the door mats of consumers a couple of months from now.

Whilst the Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said the government was putting in measures for consumers who need support, one of the biggest problems is that most central heating systems have very inefficient control systems and waste far more fuel than they should. A boiler management system, like HeatingSave, can reduce gas or oil consumption by between 10% and 30% making as much fuel economy as lagging lofts and pipes.