Fuel Poverty: West Norfolk included in areas most at risk.

This article will be focused on the rise in energy prices at an organisational and stakeholder level, if you are concerned as an individual - we regularly update the support here.

Fuel Poverty: West Norfolk included in areas most at risk.

It was recently revealed in a report from ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) and the End Poverty Fuel Coalition that “New data projections reveal that the fuel poverty crisis gripping the country is affecting some areas worse than others.”

The report discovered the following: 

• “Around a third of households in market town King's Lynn and rural West Norfolk will be in fuel poverty (33.8%)”
• With the increase in energy bills coming into effect on 1 April 2022, over 6.3m households (27% of homes in England) will wake up in fuel poverty that morning.” 

(Revealed: The streets where nearly everyone is in fuel poverty – End Fuel Poverty Coalition).

How has this changed from 2020?

In 2020, there were an estimated 13.2 per cent of households (3.16 million) in fuel poverty in England under the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) metric, down from 13.4 per cent in 2019 (3.18 million). Annual Fuel Poverty Statistics LILEE Report 2022 (2020 data) (publishing.service.gov.uk)

However, fuel poverty figures are set to increase even further in 2022:

“The End Fuel Poverty Coalition’s latest estimate is that 6.3m households (26.7%) in England will be in fuel poverty from 1 April 2022 as a result of recent price increases.”

See the full article here.

Why is West Norfolk at risk?

Much of these areas are isolated due to rurality and rely heavily on oil to fuel their homes. With energy costs set to increase and ongoing uncertainty around the oil supply market, this is a worrying time for most people.

Paul Dixon, Rural Evidence Manager at Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE), commented:

“Rural residents have some of the hardest to heat homes. Additionally, about a million households rely on heating oil which has increased in price by more than three times since the same period last year. Government must recognise and address the particular vulnerabilities of people in this situation.”

How we can help

Here at Community Action Norfolk, we are here to help you. We recently published some support and advice for the upcoming energy price rise in an article here. We are the ACRE member for Norfolk – we can provide support and resources for your home, village hall or community centre. We regularly receive advice and resources from ACRE which can be applied to your village hall or community centre. These regular discussions and communications mean that we can support any query you might have.

If you have any concerns or queries, please get in touch via email at office@communityactionnorfolk.org.uk.

ACRE and the End Fuel Poverty Coalition have published resources and support with the rise in energy cost, you can see them here (ACRE) and here (EFPC). There are also other national charities such as National Energy Action (NEA) who may be able to help.

The EFPC have also recently been asking people to tweet their MP to call for action on the energy price increase. Sending direct emails or posts on social media are an effective way of letting your MP know your concerns. We recommend making your message personalised - setting it aside from the other communications that they may receive that have been copied and pasted.
You can see the tweets from EFPC here and find your MPs details to tweet or email them by using the website here.