Cosy up to the government

The government's commitment to ending fuel poverty, by creating easy-to-pay social tariffs, has been superseded by other cheaper on-line or dual fuel deals, and so the new funding is being directed at helping people choose from the full range of payment options.

The government announced today that they would fund training places for the Citizens Advice centres to help their advisors to understand the best range of options for their clients.

They will also use the existing utility providers to help their customers find a suitable payment option, by changing the law to allow data sharing or maybe to apply, via the Warmfront scheme, for insulation and energy saving measures to reduce future costs.

Energy minister Malcolm Wicks said: "We've got a commitment from the energy companies now to provide an extra £225 million in social assistance.

"Now we're working on finding ways to get them the right information to enable them to get that money to those who need it the most. That's what's most important right now - making sure the most vulnerable, the elderly, the disabled and young families aren't cold in their own homes because they can't pay their bills. As well as measures to improve the incomes of the vulnerable, a key part of this must be energy efficiency which will help bring people's bills down in the future and keep their homes warm."

May 31^st 2008

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