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Fuel poverty summit held today
23/04/2008 16:23:00
Ministers, campaigners and energy firm bosses have met today in London to decide on how best to assist the increasing numbers of consumers affected by fuel poverty.
Hosted by Ofgem, the energy industry regulator, energy minister Malcolm Wickes, Ofgem chairman Sir John Mogg, and the chief executives of Scottish Power, Npower and Scottish & Southern were among those invited to attend.
The government want energy suppliers to do more to help consumers trapped in fuel poverty, which is defined as a household spending more than a tenth of their income on energy.
Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said: "The action taken so far is nowhere near enough to help those pushed into fuel poverty this year, let alone in the future."
He added that fresh initiatives were needed to help the government's strategy which he described as previously being in "disarray".
Meanwhile, findings from a survey by financial comparison website uSwitch.com showed 6.8 million households were in debt to their energy suppliers - with the average arrears of £114.
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