Call to tackle off-grid fuel poverty

On Wednesday in the House of Commons, Drew Hendry MP (SNP) introduced a Ten Minute Rule motion to bring in a bill to tackle fuel poverty among households off the gas grid. As many Countryside Alliance supporters will know all too well, this is a particular problem in rural areas including his constituency of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey.

The Government defines fuel poverty as households living in a property whose fuel efficiency is rated at band D or below, which cannot be properly heated without bringing the household below the poverty line.

Although the latest statistics from 2019 indicate that historically higher levels of fuel poverty in rural areas in England have reversed, with 11.6% of rural households recorded as fuel-poor in 2019 compared with 13.8% in urban areas, the figures also indicated fuel-poor rural households were, on average, worse off than their urban counterparts. The 'fuel poverty gap' – the extra annual income that would be needed to bring a fuel-poor household out of fuel poverty – stood at £585 in rural villages, hamlets and isolated dwellings, compared with a national average of £216. Across the UK, rural areas continue to see a larger proportion of households not on the gas grid and reliant on more expensive heating options such as electricity and oil.

Mr Hendry said that his Bill would:

"require the Secretary of State and Ofgem to make proposals for measures to ensure that households do not have to pay more for energy because they do not have access to mains gas supply."

While he did not seek to prescribe how this should be achieved, his suggestions included designating vulnerable areas that would be subject to additional price controls, allocating additional funds for improvements to energy efficiency and taking steps through the benefits system.

Bills introduced through the Ten Minute Rule very seldom make progress, but we applaud the attention drawn to this issue and call on the Government to ensure that households off the gas grid can enjoy the same level of consumer protection from Ofgem as others.