“No Current Action Plan for Eradicating Fuel Poverty in Wales”

North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has questioned the First Minister this week over the recommendation in the 2014 UK Fuel Poverty Monitor that there is no current action plan for eradicating fuel poverty in Wales.

Mr Isherwood, who is Chair of the Cross Party Group on Fuel Poverty, is concerned the Welsh Government is not doing enough to tackle fuel poverty and to prioritise vulnerable people.

Speaking in the Chamber he said:

“The Flintshire Affordable Warmth Scheme, which clearly works successfully with Flintshire council, was the idea of the North Wales Energy Advice Centre. It said that the qualifying criterion is that the client be vulnerable in any way, rather than simply based on benefit eligibility.

“How, therefore, do you respond to the recommendation in the 2014 UK Fuel Poverty Monitor that there is no current action plan for eradicating fuel poverty in Wales and that the Welsh Government should outline how it intends to prioritise vulnerable households?”

The First Minister said: “That is a clear nonsense. We know that we have a number of schemes to deal with fuel poverty deal—Nest and Arbed being two of them. However, I do very much welcome the Member’s praise for a Labour council and its initiative in ensuring that fuel poverty is tackled within Flintshire.”

Mr Isherwood added: “The First Minister’s glib answer characteristically puts party politics first when the priority must be helping the people affected.

“The UK Fuel Poverty Monitor makes an annual assessment of fuel poverty models and compares the different approaches to tackle the issue across the UK. The report has been compiled by National Energy Action policy teams in Wales, England and Northern Ireland, together with Energy Action Scotland, with the support of Consumer Focus.

“The report states that the Welsh Government should evaluate the lessons learned from the failure to make progress against its interim targets and outline how many households it expects to lift from fuel poverty each year to the target date of 2018 from its existing policies.“