A report from St. Vincent De Paul warns that many households are at risk of fuel poverty and blackouts this winter. The increasing energy bills and higher prices for those on pay-as-you-go meters means that many low-income families will struggle to heat their homes or will have to make the choice to feed or heat their household.
Sinn Féin sees the need to tackle this head-on and has proposed measures that can be taken immediately:
- Cross-departmental report into the effectiveness of the fuel allowance scheme taking account of the increased energy costs.
- Explore option of introducing a cold weather payment, as is in place in the North in times of severe weather events.
- Increase resources to local authorities to enable them to increase the number and frequency of inspections of private rental properties. The local authority’s houses should be setting the standard for the Warmer Home and Conservation schemes. The continued rollout of the Energy Efficiency Retrofitting Programme and to ensure that Phase 2 is made available to improve local authority housing.
- Expand eligibility for the Warmer Home Scheme which offers some energy retrofitting to certain low-income households free of charge.
- Introduce a subsidised, low cost, green loan scheme to enable the purchase of energy efficiency and micro-generation technologies by a wider cohort of households so that increasing numbers can enjoy low energy bills.
