Caroline Allen, the Green Party London Assembly candidate for North East London, along with local residents, joined a countrywide event highlighting the serious and growing problem of fuel poverty and the real reasons behind it. Caroline joined Hackney Green Party on Sunday in holding a ‘Winter Warm Up’ at Hackney Town Hall as part of a weekend of action by Fuel Poverty Action.

Caroline said “6.3 million homes are in fuel poverty in the UK, and it is estimated that around 2,700 people died last winter as a direct result of being ‘fuel poor’. This is a shocking figure”.

Since privatisation the Big Six energy companies have made billions of pounds of profit and now the government is cutting its Winter Fuel Allowance. Protesters are accusing the government and energy companies of a “deadly obsession with making money”.

Older people and those on low incomes are disproportionately affected, in particular those in private rented accommodation. Many of the 39% of Hackney’s children living in poverty are likely to be affected by fuel poverty too. Studies have shown that children from cold homes were more than twice as likely to have respiratory problems and that adolescents living in cold homes had a risk of multiple mental health problems that was seven times greater than the average, thought to be due to lack of personal space in poorly-heated homes where families cluster in one room.

Caroline added “What makes me even more angry is that these companies are making hundreds of millions of pounds of profit and paying their executives millions, while at the same time trying to push the blame for price rises onto much needed investment in Green energy.

We have failed to properly insulate so many properties; people’s money is literally disappearing out of their windows and roofs. Housing in the UK is some of the most poorly insulated in Europe: 25-35% of the total energy used in a typical family home in the UK is wasted and at least 27% of the UK’s carbon emissions come from homes.

Hackney Green Party press release