Steep rise in winter deaths
Comment from the Energy Bill Revolution on today’s announcement that 31,100 Excess Winter Death have been recorded for last winter, up 29%.
Steep rise in winter deaths
Commenting on the announcement today that Excess Winter Deaths surged by 29% last winter to reach 31,100, Ed Matthew, Director of the Energy Bill Revolution said:
“We should be ashamed that thousands of people are condemned to die in cold homes every year when many of these lives could be saved through insulation. We now outrank most countries in Europe for excess winter deaths at a time when speculation is rife that the chancellor will cut funding for energy efficiency, leading to higher energy bills, greater fuel poverty and thousands more deaths. If he does it would rank as one of the most short sighted and irresponsible acts of this political generation.”
Britain’s cold homes crisis
- A higher proportion of deaths in Britain are due to cold than in Sweden, where gas prices are twice as high, winters are longer and temperatures can drop to -30۫
- 1 in 5 households in the UK are now in fuel poverty – which means that they spend more than 10 of their income on keeping their homes warm and the number is rising.
- Government funding for energy efficiency measures for the fuel poor plunged by 50% before last winter. Over the course of this parliament total funding for fuel poverty will have been reduced by 20%.
- The Government is considering cutting annual funding for energy efficiency in the Autumn Statement next week.
The Energy Bill Revolution
The Energy Bill Revolution (http://www.energybillrevolution.org/) is the world’s biggest anti-fuel poverty campaign, made up of a coalition of over 150 of the UK’s biggest charities and businesses.
It campaigns for the Government to use the money it gets from carbon taxes to help make homes super-energy efficient – providing a solution to our energy bill crisis for once and for all. It is calling on the Government to make home energy efficiency the UK’s number 1 infrastructure investment.
Back