Government faces legal action over fuel poverty target

Greenpeace has threatened to take the government to court for “failing” in its duty to tackle fuel poverty.

The campaign group has calculated that under current energy efficiency plans, 95% of England’s fuel poor households will remain in that bracket by 2030.

In a letter to energy secretary Grant Shapps, Greenpeace said “no meaningful action has been taken or is proposed to be taken within a realistic and effective timeline”. It went on to threaten court action unless the government “immediately carries out a review into its strategy for tackling fuel poverty, and demonstrates how the target could be hit”.

It comes on the back of the soon-to-be-defunct Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) response to a freedom of information (FOI) request by Greenpeace, which calculated current energy efficiency schemes would take 390,000 homes out of fuel poverty. This would mean a 12% reduction through the 2020s – from 3.16 million households in 2020 to 2.77 million in 2030.

Greenpeace has also accused the government of using outdated statistics, given that the number of fuel poor households in the UK is now at an estimated 6.7 million. Using this base, Greenpeace estimates the government’s plans will only help 5.8% escape fuel poverty.

The group pointed out that under the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000 the government has a statutory obligation to upgrade as many homes “as is reasonably practicable” of people living in fuel poverty to a minimum energy efficiency rating of B and C by the end of 2030. Its prospective legal action is based around the failure to fulfill this obligation.

Greenpeace UK’s head of UK climate, Mel Evans, said: “By throwing in the towel on tackling fuel poverty the government has shackled the poorest people to the coldest homes and the highest bills.

“Almost a quarter of all households are now in fuel poverty. This is a national crisis yet the government’s failing strategy for tackling it means that at this rate it won’t meet its legally binding 2030 target until close to the end of the next century.

“A national home insulation programme can lift people out of fuel poverty, support better health and tackle the climate emergency. Unless the government gets on with it, we’ll see them in court.”

Jason Torrance, chief executive UK100, the umbrella group for councils that have pledged a rapid transition to net zero, urged the government to “avoid a costly legal battle and raise hundreds of thousands of families out of fuel poverty” by adopting its suggestion to revamp a current scheme.

The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund works invites local authorities to compete for funding to upgrade the energy efficiency of the social housing stock in their communities. UK100 has argued the scheme would be far more effective if the new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero instead distributed it by need.

UK100 is also recommending that a redesigned scheme is run alongside the new UK Infrastructure Bank to maximise private investment and innovative green finance opportunities.

It claims such an initiative could upgrade over 550,000 social housing properties by 2028, support 40,000 jobs and save residents up to £1,500 on their bills in the first year alone.

A government spokesperson said: “The fuel poverty target for England is to ensure that as many fuel poor homes as possible achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of band C by 2030. Thanks to government support, the number of homes with this rating or above has already gone from 13% in 2010 to 46% and rising.”