(via NEA Cymru)
NEA CYMRU NEWS RELEASE
Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) Cymru responds to the release of new fuel poverty figures by the Welsh Government yesterday (21st May 2019):
Carole Morgan-Jones, Director, National Energy Action Cymru:
“Improving the energy efficiency of our existing housing stock is one of the main ways to end the misery of fuel poverty and whilst the new figures are encouraging, we will need to examine the detail of how the figures have been calculated when further analysis is released later in the summer.
Whilst these figures show that some progress has been made, the scale of the problem remains significant. Over 1,000 deaths occurred in Wales directly related to living in a cold home in 2017-18. Our analysis published in our investigative Fuel Poverty Monitor report last year found organisations struggling to cope with the increase in demand for their services during the winter of 2017-18, from those clients unable to pay for repairs to their broken heating systems, to others needing emergency meter top ups or temporary electric heating.
We welcome the Welsh Government’s commitment to a new fuel poverty plan and cold weather plan. It is now of paramount urgency that these two government initiatives are delivered promptly, and we look forward to working with them over the coming months to ensure they will help those households on the lowest incomes and in the leakiest and coldest homes.”
