ES Pipelines supports Warm Homes Campaign 2010

ES Pipelines is backing National Energy Action’s Warm Homes Campaign 2010 and is supporting NEA’s call for a national energy efficiency drive to combat rising levels of fuel poverty.

The call comes after recent Government statistics revealed that the numbers of households in fuel poverty is continuing to escalate, with NEA estimating that the figure in England and Wales has reached over 4.1 million.

Nick Clark, ES Pipelines’ Development Director said: “NEA’s Warm Homes Campaign highlights that there are still millions of people who are simply struggling to keep their homes warm and protect their families from the ill-effects of the cold. Fuel-poor households experience a number of detrimental health impacts and reductions in general well-being as a result of cold, damp living conditions. This is clearly unacceptable, and this campaign also demonstrates where help is available.

“We work closely with social housing providers to ensure they have access to all the grants and support on offer to improve the quality and energy efficiency of their housing stock.”

NEA chief executive Jenny Saunders said: “This campaign plays a vital role in ensuring members of the public, local politicians and MPs understand this link between energy efficiency and fuel poverty. By providing practical advice to local community groups and taking MPs to visit their constituents at home and hear first hand about how they’ve benefited from energy efficiency initiatives, we hope to help lift other families out of fuel poverty.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. The NEA’s Warm Homes Campaign 2010 press pack is available on the NEA Website. Click here.
2. Warm Homes Campaign is a national campaign organised by fuel poverty charities National Energy Action (NEA) and Energy Action Scotland (EAS), and is sponsored in 2010 by DECC (England only)and E.ON.
3. The campaign runs from 18th November to 3rd December 2010, with politicians visiting constituents who have benefited from energy efficiency grant schemes.
4. Warm Homes Campaign aims to raise awareness of the problem of fuel poverty and the various grants and schemes that are available to vulnerable households struggling to heat their homes.
5. NEA is the UK’s leading fuel poverty charity campaigning for affordable warmth in the homes of vulnerable people. For further details, visit www.nea.org.uk
6. Fuel poverty is defined as when a household is required to spend more than ten per cent of its income after housing costs on total fuel use.
7. DECC figures for 2008 have shown that fuel poverty increased significantly from 2007 to 2008, from 2.8 million to 3.3 million households in England alone and puts the figures for the whole of the UK at 4.5 million. NEA estimates that as of 2010, more than 5.4 million UK households are considered to be in fuel poverty. NEA estimates there are currently 320,000 fuel poor households in Wales, equivalent to 1 in 4 households.
8. Current grant programmes are:

Warm Front in England (0800 408 2095) www.warmfront.co.uk
The Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (HEES) in Wales (0800 316 2815) www.heeswales.co.ukE.ON is one of the UK’s leading power and gas companies – generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas – and is part of the E.ON group, one of the world’s largest investor-owned power and gas companies. They employ more than 15,000 people in the UK and more than 88,000 worldwide.

For details on the Warm Homes Campaign and MPs’ activities around the country, contact Lesley Tudor-Snodin, NEA Press Officer, on 0191 261 5677 or LTS@nea.org.uk