Thousands facing the threat of fuel poverty
Even though there are signs that the UK economy is starting to stabilise, hundreds of thousands of homes across the UK are either in fuel poverty or very much on the borderline. Fuel poverty is a situation where a household spends in excess of 10% of overall income on energy costs, something which has hit around 4 million homes in England already.
While the UK government claims to have spent over £20 billion on fuel poverty since 2000 many people are at a loss to explain exactly where these funds have been spent. When you consider that the average energy bill in the UK has increased by 125% over the last five years it is not difficult to see how fuel poverty has increased and continues to increase. We also need to take into account the fact that the UK government charges VAT on fuel bills and will have seen billions upon billions of pounds in additional income over the five-year period.
The £20 billion expenditure which the government claims to have injected into the fuel poverty fight over the last nine years pales into insignificance when compared to the massive increase in tax associated with energy bills. There is no doubt that the situation will become worse in the UK in the short to medium term and UK government assistance will be essential to stop many households from "going under".
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