Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/431114
26 | 12Th - 18Th DEcEmbEr 2014 | UTILITY WEEK Customers Market view E very November the Office of National Statistics releases figures on the num- ber of older people dying from cold weather. The figures for last winter, merci- fully, were lower than the previous year, but there is no cause for celebration. Over the past decade, cold weather has been responsible for the preventable deaths of about 25,000 older people each year on average. That is one person every seven min- utes. Indeed, this hidden public health scan- dal claims the lives of many more than die in road accidents each year, yet the problem remains largely ignored. What is most surprising is that low home temperatures are behind the majority of deaths among older people. In fact, excess winter deaths among those living in cold homes are almost three times as high as those living in warm ones, which equates to about 25 older people dying each day. So the human cost of cold homes is huge, but there is a high financial cost as well. The NHS spends more than a billion pounds each year on treating the casualties of cold homes through hospital stays and follow up care support. So why, in 21st century Britain, are we unable to heat our homes adequately and protect ourselves against cold weather? Why do countries that experience much colder winter temperatures than the UK, such as Finland, Germany and France, have signifi- cantly lower winter death rates than us? There are a few factors: about one million older people are officially recognised as liv- ing in fuel poverty and many more millions struggle to heat their homes to recommended temperatures. This is partly because average household energy bills have doubled in only six years, from £600 a year to more than £1,200 a year. Beyond that, Britain has some of the oldest homes in Europe, with many of them poor quality, thermally inefficient and in need of a substantial upgrade. The rising costs of energy, coupled with hard-to-heat homes that leak heat from doors, walls and windows, mean millions of older people are forced to ration their heating during even the coldest weather to ensure they can pay their energy bills, put- ting their health at risk. The government has turned to the energy industry to play its role in helping its most vulnerable customers. The latest attempt is the Energy Company Obligation, the scheme funded by the energy companies and intended to support low income households. Disappointingly, it is delivering far fewer improvements than this time last year as a result of recalibration aer the 'green taxes' furore last autumn. Meanwhile, the Green Deal – for households who can buy energy efficiency improvements on the promise that the costs will be covered by the future sav- ings – is woefully underperforming against the expectations it raised when launched at the beginning of 2013. Other schemes such as the Warm Home Discount have helped make energy bills more affordable for many pensioners, but they remain a sticking plaster for a far deeper problem. There is a growing consensus among a wide coalition of voluntary and community groups and private companies (including the energy suppliers) that real progress can only be made by upgrading the energy efficiency of our housing stock. All our homes need to be super-insulated, so the heat we use benefits us and keeps us warm, and Age UK's new Campaign for Warm Homes is pressing for urgent action from the government and significant invest- ment in an ambitious energy-efficiency pro- gramme. This means upgrading at least two million low income homes up to EPC Band C by 2020 and all six million low income homes up to this standard by 2025. There are strong moral imperatives for an infrastructure programme of this kind – namely to seriously tackle the UK's shameful record on excess winter deaths by enabling people to heat their homes to adequate tem- peratures. Furthermore, super-insulation would also cut annual energy bills by £300 per household, liing nine out of ten house- holds out of fuel poverty and preventing cold-related illness would not only improve the lives of older people, it would reduce pressure on the NHS. But is it realistic to seek such funding at a time of austerity? Well, aside from the moral arguments, independent economists (com- missioned by the coalition group Energy Bill Revolution) have shown that there is a strong economic case for this investment. Fewer power stations would be needed if we were to reduce demand. New jobs would be created in new industries, relieving unem- ployment and bringing in new tax revenues to the government. The country would be less exposed to volatile (and increasing) global energy prices, and less dependent on unstable sources of supply. And of course there would be fewer carbon emissions, less global warming and less air pollution So the solution to the problem of cold homes is within our grasp. Politicians now need the necessary imagination and politi- cal will to make it a reality and bring an end to the scandal of thousands of older people dying preventable deaths each winter. Alice Woudhuysen, senior campaigns officer, Age UK Cold Christmas Each winter, a spectre looms over older people in the UK living in energy inefficient homes and struggling to pay mounting bills. Alice Woudhuysen delivers a sobering message. 25,000 average number of preventable deaths among older people per year in the UK 25 average number of older people who die each day due to low home temperatures £1bn amount spent by nhS each year on treating casualties of cold homes 1m Older people in the UK living in fuel poverty THE big NUMbERS