Localised fuel poverty stats show Cardiff Central residents need help - Randerson and Willott

2.43.00pm GMT Thu 12th Feb 2009

Many people in Cardiff Central are suffering from fuel poverty

Jenny Randerson AM and Jenny Willott MP have reacted to Welsh Assembly Government figures showing high instances of fuel poverty in their Cardiff Central constituency by calling for more help for people struggling to pay their fuel bills.

Figures released today show there are substantial numbers of people in the Cathays, Roath and Adamsdown areas of the constituency who are deemed to be in fuel poverty. People are considered to be in fuel poverty if they spend more than 10% of their income on fuel bills.

Jenny Randerson AM said: "The figures show that there are large parts of the constituency where more than 15% of the population are in fuel poverty and in parts of Adamsdown, the figure is up to 30%. The parts of the city with older housing seem to be the worst affected, because insulation and energy efficiency are so much worse.

"People are finding it hard enough to get by at the moment and when they are spending so much of their incomes on heating their homes, it makes the recession even harder to bear. It is high time the government stopped dithering on this and took real action to help people out of fuel poverty.

"The reality is the situation is even worse as these figures, despite only just having been released, are already out of date and don't take account of the worst of the recession."

Jenny Willott MP added: "We have a crazy situation at the moment - the Government has allowed the market to develop so that fuel charges decrease the more fuel you use.  Big consumers of fuel end up paying far less pre unit for their fuel than those on low incomes.

"People should benefit from using less fuel, not pay more.  This is especially when it's because they have made their homes more energy efficient, and when they are on low incomes.  

"Another real problem is getting landlords to improve the energy efficiency of the homes they rent.  Because they are not the ones paying high energy bills, there is little incentive for them to pay out so their tenants pay less. This is particularly an issue in areas of high density rented housing like Cathays and Roath."

Notes:

Someone is deemed to be in fuel poverty if they spend more than 10% of their income on fuel.

The map showing the level of fuel poverty in Cardiff can be accessed at:

http://wales.gov.uk/docs/desh/policy/090129fuelmapcardiffen.pdf?lang=en

Ends/