Caroline Allen joins protesters at Hackney Town Hall
Caroline Allen, the Green Party GLA candidate for North East London, is calling for Islington’s residents to sign up to a new campaign to help tackle the serious issue of fuel poverty.
The ‘Winter Warm Up’ campaign, which last month saw Caroline and supporters protesting on the steps of Hackney Town Hall, identified that the behaviour of the main six energy companies is a major contributing factor to fuel poverty. Now a new campaign ‘End the Big 6 Energy Fix’ is calling on the government to act with 3 clear demands:
1) Impose a levy on the Big Six, with funds raised ring-fenced to help people with their energy costs, prioritising those living in fuel poverty, by making homes more energy efficient.
2) Give the regulator new powers to cap prices and eliminate excess profit.
3) Launch an independent public inquiry into the Big Six so that everyone knows the measures needed to create an energy market that serves the people before profit.
Caroline said “6.3 million homes are in fuel poverty in the UK, and it is estimated that around 2,700 people died last winter as a direct result of being ‘fuel poor’. This is a shocking figure.”
The new campaign is supported by Green Party Leader, Caroline Lucas, who said: "It is completely outrageous that the Big Six are able to rake in eye-watering profits as people up and down the country are forced to choose between heating their homes and feeding their families.
These companies are delivering a crucial public service, and it is now the Government’s responsibility to hold them to account for failing to provide anything close to a fair deal for consumers. We need to see Ofgem taking a far stronger role in regulating this out-of-control industry."
Caroline Allen added “there are other measures that government and Councils could be taking to tackle this issue. It is a scandal that we have failed to properly insulate so many properties; people’s money is literally disappearing out of their windows and roofs. Housing in the UK is some of the most poorly insulated in Europe: 25-35% of the total energy used in a typical family home in the UK is wasted and at least 27% of the UK’s carbon emissions come from homes. Green councillors have shown that insulation schemes save money and create local jobs”.
Read the coverage in the Hackney Gazette
