Wales is the UK’s capital for fuel poverty with a third of households affected by it- a uSwitch.com study has found.
Fuel poverty is defined as a household spending 10% or more of its monthly income on energy bills. In Wales, the research found, that equated to 32% of households. The east of England was next with 32%.
Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com, said: “The fuel poor can be found in all types of households and in all parts of the country, but some regions and households are clearly more vulnerable than others.
“There is now real urgency for the Government to deliver on fuel poverty and to act quickly to alleviate the misery being faced by those who cannot afford to heat their homes.”
London was found to have the lowest level of fuel poverty in the UK with just 16% of households
affected.
As well as being the fuel poor capital of the UK, the study suggests that Wales is also the victim of a postcode lottery on energy prices that sees local households paying more for their energy than most other parts of the UK. In Cardiff (Swalec region) the average household energy bill is £1,312 a year, compared with £1,280 in Edinburgh and Glasgow (ScottishPower region).
The average household energy bill across the UK is £1,293 a year.
The uSwitch study of 2,323 households said energy bills had rocketed by £633, or 96%, in just over five years and an estimated 6.9 million or 27% of households are fuel poor.
Its to be expected since Wales is one of the poorest areas of Britain, which is odd really, since only a century, south Wales was as least as important in energy terms as Saudi Arabia is today.
Bertholt Brecht`s German reading working man asked:
"Who built Thebes of the Seven Gates?. In books you only find the name of kings, But did they carry the blocks of stone".
If he lived in south Wales today, he would be asking not only who ate all the pies, but who stole all the wealth we created?.
No surprise that we are in fuel poverty, it's caused by poverty of intellect and poverty of ambition by our over paid politicians. They will probably spin it to show that at least Wales is champion of one group of metrics.