Help the Aged makes fuel poverty plea

Help the Aged has called on the Government to increase social tariffs in a final push to its “Winter” campaign. The charity is working with consumer watchdog Energywatch and a number of other charities wanting better social tariffs for those who need them.

The Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) department select committee announced an inquiry into the energy market this week. The charity says the Government is not providing additional financial support in line with energy price hikes leaving the vulnerable unable to pay their bills.

A spokeswoman for the charity says the Government is “not just frozen in its tracks” to tackle fuel poverty, but “sliding backwards”.

Campaign partner Barnardo’s says children are suffering as a result of higher energy tariffs. The charity’s UK director of policy and research Julian Walker
Calls it “outrageous” that one of the world’s richest countries should “have to decide between eating and heating”.