Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Fuel poverty to rise as energy prices soar
Almost a third of households could struggle
Nearly a third of Lanarkshire households could be living in fuel poverty within the coming months as soaring prices impact on residents.
Campaigning charity Energy Action Scotland (EAS) says next month’s £693 price cap rise is set to result in 31 per cent of householders in South Lanarkshire having to spend more than 10 per cent of household income on energy costs – the official definition of fuel poverty.
Their projected figure for neighbouring North Lanarkshire is 29 per cent; with the proportion of affected residents in both local authority areas rising nine per cent in the latest statistics compared to the organisation’s last set of projections less than three months ago.
EAS’S figures follow finance secretary Kate Forbes’ announcement in last month’s budget debate that “additional energy costs will place significant burdens on many” – as she called the squeeze on personal finances “the most important issue affecting households across Scotland right now”.
She said of gas and electricity price increases: “Estimates suggest they could move a further 211,000 households into fuel poverty and around 235,000 that were already fuel poor into extreme fuel poverty; that would result in [respective] totals of 874,000 and 593,000.
“The rapidly increasing cost of living – large rises in energy bills, increased costs for every day essentials, rising interest rates and the National Insurance hike – [is]
causing huge concern and worry.
“People are struggling [and] the extent and depth of the need is stark.”
Lanarkshire’s figures from the cost modelling are below the projected Scotland-wide average of 36 per cent, with North and South Lanarkshire respectively coming in as the fourthand eighth-lowest council areas in the country.
EAS say the worst-affected area is set to be the Western Isles, where 57 per cent of households could be pushed into fuel poverty, with both Highland and Argyll & Bute reaching nearly half.
Chief executive Frazer Scott said: “We estimated that 100,000 more households would seriously struggle to heat their homes after these price rises – unfortunately, it would seem this was a vast underestimate of the extent of the problem.
“Price increases will move
significant proportions of our communities into official fuel-poor status, and on average 38 per cent of households across the country will no longer be able to afford to heat their home adequately.
“Although moves by governments in Scotland and Westminster to alleviate these price rises are welcome, they go nowhere near far enough.
“We urgently need government action to improve the energy efficiency of homes, particularly targeted at households that suffer the greatest rates of fuel poverty – this would ensure help is being given to
those that need it the most.”
The charity wants to see oil and gas firms paying additional tax in order to reduce consumers’ VAT on energy bills, as well as reforms to assist those on the lowest incomes.
North Lanarkshire Council addressed the issue in its “cost of living” budget last month, introducing £100 fuel grants for pensioners at a cost of £475,000 during 2022-2023.
Scottish Government officials published a strategy in December aiming to reduce fuel poverty to no more than five per cent of households by 2040.