Increases in energy prices mean that Dundee City Council’s efforts to tackle fuel poverty are “inevitably going to fail,” according to a local authority figure.
Housing convener Jimmy Black admits that frequent price hikes by energy providers mean that initiatives to tackle the problem are being constantly undermined.
He was speaking after ScottishPower announced plans to increase gas tariffs by 19% from August 1, with electricity rising by 10% on the same day.
It also comes ahead of a report to be presented to the housing, contract services and environment committee next week that shows that over a quarter of Dundee’s private households are already living in fuel poverty.
Mr Black told The Courier, “The council’s efforts to tackle fuel poverty are inevitably going to fail. All power companies will increase their prices and all progress made is undone by these steep hikes.
“It’s a real problem for people.”
Energy prices are already a huge problem for people in Dundee, according to the council’s private-sector house condition survey.
Breaking down the city’s private-sector housing stock, it states that 13,371 of Dundee’s 51,971 privately-owned households are spending over 10% of their annual income on energy placing them in fuel poverty.
Some 3176 households are breaching the 20% mark and are so deemed to be in extreme fuel poverty.
Although in line with the national average, the highlighting of the problem in Dundee, coinciding with the announcement by ScottishPower, suggests these figures are unlikely to be reduced in the near future.
Like councils across Scotland, Dundee has instigated measures aimed at helping improve energy efficiency. Although this influence is limited in terms of private housing, the council says it has tried to make homes as energy-efficient as possible, largely by installing home insulation.InsulationWith many older properties not benefiting from this, Mr Black admits that householders are forced to pay the price in gas and electric prices.
He said, “I’m not suggesting that people waste fuel but some homes are poorly insulated as 10 years ago insulation was not a high priority.
“The answer is to reduce the use of fuel. Insulation is the best way of doing this, but it can be expensive to do this to older properties.”
He added, “We need to reduce energy usage to combat global warming, and emissions from domestic properties are a major factor.
“There are measures to tackle the root cause of fuel poverty but price rises make the whole drive (for energy efficiency) more important.”
The elderly are particularly affected and Dundee Pensioners’ Forum chairman Jim McAulay has hit out at providers, saying, “It’s shocking that prices are going up again as gas and electricity are dear enough as it is.
“Pensioners are a broad spectrum. Some who have worked in one job for their whole life and have an occupational pension are probably all right.”
He added, “But for others that may not be the case and it’s very difficult for everyone at the moment not just pensioners. There’s no end in sight.”