Fuel scheme 'failing the poorest'
July 24, 2009
A scheme aimed at improving households' fuel efficiency and cutting fuel poverty is "failing the poorest and most vulnerable", MPs have said.
Nearly a fifth of the funding for the multi-million pound Warm Front scheme was going to households that were already energy efficient.
And £15m was spent on measures that did little to pull households out of fuel poverty, the committee of MPs said.
The government is aiming to end fuel poverty in England by 2016.
'Focus'
Fuel poverty is defined as a household that spends more than 10% of its income on energy bills.
But the Public Accounts Committee report concludes that only a third of the genuinely fuel-poor qualified for help under the Warm Front scheme.
"It is unclear whether the primary aim of the scheme is to improve the energy efficiency of homes or to reduce fuel poverty," said committee chairman Edward Leigh.
"If the latter, then the scheme is certainly still missing the mark a lot of the time."
The report found that 635,000 households benefitted from the scheme between June 2005 and March 2008 at a cost of £852m. By 2010-11, the cost to the taxpayer was expected to rise to £1.8bn, the report said.
The scheme offers grants for updating the insulation of homes and to install more fuel-efficient appliances.
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