Fuel Poverty Statistics Revealed

Statistics from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have been published, revealing that fuel poverty in the UK has risen by more than 20%.

In 2009, there were around 5.5 million fuel-poor households in the UK, up from 4.5 million in 2008. In England, there were around 4 million fuel-poor households, up from 3.3 million in 2008.

The increase in fuel poverty between 2008 and 2009 was largely due to rising prices. Gas prices rose by 14% and electricity prices by 5 % between 2008 and 2009.

DECC says rising incomes, improvements in the energy efficiency of housing and social and discounted tariffs continue to help some households from falling into fuel poverty.

Fuel poverty among vulnerable households, defined as the elderly, children or somebody who is disabled or long-term sick, for 2009 stood at 4.5 million UK households, up 0.75 million from 2008, and 3.2 million households (England), up 0.5 million from 2008.

DECC's projections for England indicate there are likely to be around 4 million fuel-poor households in 2010 and 4.1 million households in 2011. Although some price rises will impact on households in the latter half of 2011, it will be 2012 before the full impact of these are visible in the fuel poverty data.

A spokesperson for DECC said: "Actual fuel poverty figures for 2010 and 2011 will only be known when we have detailed results of the surveys on household income and efficiency programmes, and will be available for publication in 2011 and 2012 respectively."

Raises In Utility Prices!

Ofgem has launched an official investigation into recent price hikes.Are We Paying Too Much For Our Energy?

Half of the main gas and electricity suppliers in the UK :- British Gas, Scottish & Southern and ScottishPower – have increased their prices in recent weeks. It has also come to light that this price rise increases the profit margins of each of these companies quite considerably! An increase of of around £25 per household, raising profit margins by over 35%!

Last week, ScottishPower said its customers' electricity bills would rise by an average of 8.9% while prices for gas customers would increase by 2%, a considerable amount for even the most energy conscious household! Meanwhile, Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) has put up gas prices by 9.4% since the start of December. British Gas customers also face a 7% rise in utility bills this winter.

Jeremy Cryer from Gocompare.com welcomed the Ofgem investigation. “The £90 profit margin Ofgem refers to could be the difference between a comfortable winter and a miserable one for a lot of households as we move into the most expensive period for energy bills,” he said.

"This review shouldn't just be restricted to investigating recent price rises, however. The energy market is a classic example of one which has been allowed to remain deliberately complex.

“As a result many consumers do not have the confidence to take control of their own energy provision – more than 80% of households have not switched energy supplier in the past 12 months.”

At times like this efficiency becomes even more important, the difference between an open-fronted gas fire that is lucky to achieve 50% efficiency and a glass-fronted HE glas fire such as the Apex Capacious at up to 89% efficiency makes quite a considerable cost difference to run the fire, especially during the winter seasons when these appliances are most depended on.

Save Money Now!

As I write this post it is only 58 days, 14 hours and 22 minutes until the Sales tax is rising by 2.5 percentage points to 20% starting on 4 January, 2011, as part of the coalition government’s plans to reduce the UK budget deficit.

Although this may not sound much that 2.5% could have a very big impact on the price of the fireplace you are looking to purchase. For example the Drugasar Metro 100XT Balanced Flue Gas Fire, one of the most popular Hole-In-The-Wall style gas fires, producing 6.3kW of heat energy at up to 70% efficiency, this high quality and stunningly contemporary gas fire would go up in price by over £50! this quite sharp price increase could take away money that could take this amazing fire over your budget!

The Drugasar Metro 100XT would go in price by over £50!

Electric fires arent exempt from the VAT rise either with the Apex Intense Hang-On-The-Wall electric fire with a stunning flame effect and high-quality black granite fascia would go up in price by over £30. This raise is price is equal in cost to running the 2kW silent heater on high constantly for over 250 hours! That means that buying the fire before Christmas without the extra 2.5% VAT would save you enough money to have the fire on the low 1kW heat setting from the 22nd of December, all the way through the festive season until the 5th of January! Or, phrasing it another way, that £30 saving would run the flame effect constantly for 5 years!

Buy now and save enough money to run the heater on low for 3 weeks!

Purchasing a multi-fuel stove before the 2.5% increase would certainly make sense, with that extra 2.5% working out at being nearly nearly £30 on the Vermont Castings Intrepid III multi-fuel stove, that £30 would go a long was towards getting the stove installed, or pay for that first load of fuel to store for the festive season, there is nothing better than sitting in front of a cracking log stove when it is cold and dark outside!

So if you're thinking about purchasing a gas or electric fire or stove, it would certainly be worth while and purchase before Christmas to save that extra 2.5%, it's amazing how far that 2.5% can take you.