Website and telephone payments Sunday 19 May
Our website and telephone payment systems are unavailable between 9am and 2pm on Sunday 19 May. You will not be able to pay for any council services on our website or over the phone during this time.
Find out what fuel poverty is, how we are tackling it and what to do if you are worried about paying your fuel bills.
Fuel poverty in England is measured using the low income high costs indicator. Under this, a household is considered to be fuel poor if:
There are three important elements in determining whether a household is fuel poor. These are:
More and more people are falling into this group as energy becomes increasingly expensive. Over 4,000,000 people in England are now identified as living in fuel poverty, based on 2009 estimates.
Fuel poverty particularly affects more vulnerable households, such as older people, younger children, the disabled and long-term sick, but it also affects working people and families too.
The causes of fuel poverty can include:
The effects of fuel poverty include:
With rising fuel prices many people are finding keeping warm more difficult. If you are finding it harder to afford to keep your home warm, or if you need to spend more than 10 per cent of your income on energy, it is worthwhile seeing if you can get support to try to reduce your energy bills.
This new grant provides energy efficiency upgrades and clean heating systems to low-income households that are not on mains gas.
The Home Upgrade Grant (HUG2) can be used for improvements such as insulation and solar panels to air source heat pumps and smart heating controls. These will help save money on energy bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Register your details with us to find out if you could be eligible for the grant.
We support a number of grant schemes that can help you to improve the energy efficiency of your home and reduce your fuel bills.
You can find out more about these on our schemes and grants pages.
If you have built up a fuel debt and are having difficulty paying for it, talk honestly with your energy company. They may be able to help you by spreading the payments, changing your tariff or by installing a pre-payment meter. They have an obligation to consider your situation fairly, taking into account your ability to pay and suggesting a suitable way forward.
You can also visit the Citizens Advice Bureau website for advice on tackling debt, including fuel debt.
Improving the energy efficiency of your home can also help you to reduce your bills and avoid fuel debt. You can find more information on our schemes and grants pages.
You can:
Many energy companies are part of the warm homes discount scheme, which can help reduce your bills. You must apply for this as it is not advertised, and do so as soon as possible, as energy providers only have a fixed pot of funds, so it is done on a first-come, first-served basis. Visit the Government website for more information.
Additionally, paying energy bills by Direct Debit or using an online tariff can be cheaper. You can find more advice on the Energy Savings Trust website.
Community groups, neighbourhood teams, church groups and others are a good way to develop and promote activities which help make energy more affordable. This could include raising awareness of energy efficiency grants and potential cost savings to local people, as well as establishing new schemes like oil cooperatives and promoting new renewable technologies like solar water heating.
We must prepare a report setting out the energy conservation measures that we consider practicable, cost-effective and likely to result in significant improvement in the energy efficiency of homes in our area.
It is a legal requirement and a key strategy for reducing fuel poverty.
Energy efficiency improvements can bring significant benefits for our residents including:
You can read our Home Energy Conservation Act reports