Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | FEBRUARY 2022 | 9 Interview D avid Blakemore has just received his rst winter fuel payment but he's clearly not entirely chu ed about the handout, which all UK households of pensionable age receive to help with their heating bills. It's not that the outgoing Committee on Fuel Poverty (CfP) chairman is sensitive about his age; it's more a case that he doesn't feel he deserves the assistance. "It's so unjust that I should get help when I don't need it," he says. "I'm very fortunate my fuel bill is not on my radar but there are 2.5 million fuel poor house- holds who are not pensioners who don't get that help." The winter fuel payments themselves should be more tightly focused on xthose most in need, including non-pensioners in fuel poverty, while around half of the budget should be devoted to energy conservation, the ex-oil executive argues. Pointing out that only around one in ten pension- ers are living in fuel poverty, he says: "It's not a well targeted assistance." And such anomalies are likely to become more glar- ing as energy costs rocket up the agenda, Blakemore says: "A lot of people are on the cusp and will not be able to heat their homes next winter." Charity National Energy Action has recently estimated that the number of fuel-poor households could nearly double from the pre- pandemic gure of 3.2 million to 6 million. By the time he received this rst winter fuel payment, Blakemore didn't expect to still be in post at the CfP. All but one of the existing commissioners were due to have stepped down from their roles last November when their terms expired. However, more than two months later, the government has yet to name replacements. Describing the process as "frustratingly slow", he says it seems "strange" that the appointments to the relatively low-pro le committee have to be vetted by Downing Street. For the time being, Blakemore and two of his fel- low committee members have agreed to carry on until replacements are in place. He says: "We don't feel that we can let the thing drop." They have used this extra time to re o letters to Ofgem and business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, which raise concerns about the looming hike in household fuel bills. The letter to Ofgem is a response to the regulator's recently published consultation on spreading the impact on bills from failed retailers, which have been forced into the Supplier of Last Resort process. The committee urges the regulator to nd a way to protect fuel-poor households, which don't receive ben- e ts, from picking up the tab for the companies' failures, says Blakemore. "These exceptional costs are due to regulatory failure so to penalise low-income households for regulatory failure is just wrong." The letter to Kwarteng, meanwhile, calls for a broadening of the Warm Home Discount scheme with additional funds supplied by the Treasury. The priority for additional assistance should be those fuel-poor households that do not currently qualify for the discount because they do not receive bene ts. Blakemore says: "Rather than just doubling protection to existing recipients, any additional protection should be prioritised at the 1.5 million households not on bene ts." While the government continues to use bene ts continued overleaf

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