Montgomeryshire AM, Russell George, has said the Welsh Government has allowed rural fuel poverty to sit in its ‘too difficult to do tray’ for far too long and called on Ministers to address the problem with the upmost urgency.
With National Energy Action projecting a fuel poverty crisis this winter, Mr George has raised concerns about what government was doing to help households in rural areas, particularly those off the gas network.
Commenting, Mr George said:
“This winter could potential be one of life or death for some householders in Wales who cannot afford to heat their homes.
“Rural Wales will suffer worst of all, with figures from National Energy Action Cymru showing that fuel poverty is twice as prevalent in rural areas as in urban areas of Wales.
“The problem with rural fuel poverty is that range of underlying factors contributing to it are complex and inter-linked and are often misunderstood by Government.
“For example rural fuel poverty does not always neatly align with social poverty as is generally the case in urban areas but is more closely associated with the quality of housing stock and the household demographic. It is also difficult to engage successfully with rural communities owing to the often isolated physical location or their reluctance to admit there is a problem.
“One of the key challenges is the amount of households in rural areas that are off the gas network. Around 206,000 homes (16%) in Wales are off the gas grid – mostly in rural areas – and of that number, over half live in fuel poverty.
“I believe the Welsh Government needs to implement urgent, co-ordinated action if we are to prevent unnecessary deaths this winter and the best way of achieving that is to incorporate the Fuel Poverty Charter Action Plan within its current fuel strategy.
“However, there also needs to be strong collaboration with private business in the sector. Calor’s Rural Fuel Poverty Programme is a good example of business working directly at a local level and applying bespoke solutions to fit specific community and householder needs, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.
“Finally, the Government needs to encouragement more off-gas households to take up micro-generation.
“I believe effectively tackling rural fuel poverty has been one of those tasks that has been parked in the ‘too difficult to do tray’ for far too long. We now need to take it out of the tray and address the problem with the upmost urgency.”
