Thursday 30 October 2008

FUEL POVERTY WILL AFFECT MORE THAN 5.5 MILLION HOUSEHOLDS OVER THE COMING YEAR

I am pleased that today’s Grimsby Evening Telegraph reported on the September meeting of full council – it feels like a long time now, but the Notice of Motion that I moved and was seconded by Councillor Les Bonner is now becoming very crucial to vulnerable individuals.

During the meeting I called requested Chief Executive to write to the Prime Minister asking him to take immediate action to end the pre-payment meter tariff, and call upon him to increase the winter fuel allowance. I further requested that the only way to resolve the energy crisis in the long term is to invest in renewable energies in places such as the North Sea and to have a major investment in home insulation as outlined by the Local Government Association.

The Grimsby Evening Telegraph reported me as saying that: “Fuel poverty will affect more than 5.5-million households over the coming year, which means that those households will spend over 10 per cent of their income on energy.

“This will be especially prominent in North East Lincolnshire, where we have one of the lowest average wage counts in the UK.”

“We have families and pensioners in this area struggling to heat their homes, and if the winter is a harsh one, there will be a winter of discontent.

“The Labour Government is simply not addressing the problem and yet we see energy companies announcing record profits.”

These sentiments were shared by Councillor Malcolm Morland (Liberal Democrat, Sidney Sussex), who said: “The energy companies buy their gas from Russia and then store it in France and Germany.

“We, the consumer, have to foot the bill for these storage cost as well as inflated prices. It isn’t right and the Government should look into why energy companies can get away with this.”

The decision to raise the issue with the Labour Government was backed unanimously by council members.

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