Preparing to Compound the Error: The Fuel Poverty Crisis

Policy makers, regulators, service providers and advice bodies have been triply challenged by stubborn levels of fuel poverty, an explosive energy-supercharged cost of living crisis and the demands of accelerating progress toward net zero targets. Despite costly and varied interventions, we are emerging from the worst of the crisis without a coherent policy framework that learns the lessons of recent years and anticipates the challenges of the years to come. The benefit case for interventions around energy affordability is conservative and under-explored. The strong strategic alignment between fuel poverty and net zero interventions are asserted but not followed through. The regulatory protections for the most vulnerable energy consumers are held back, in the hope that the market will right itself and the challenge can be largely avoided. National Energy Action identifies five critical and foundational actions so that the interests of those that struggle most to afford the cost of a warm and healthy home are finally put at the heart of the public and regulatory policy agenda not only to mitigate the impact of high energy costs but to realise the benefits of the low carbon transition.

Adam has been Chief Executive of National Energy Action, a charity that campaigns against fuel poverty in the UK, since 2017. He has been a consumer rights campaigner for many years including at major UK consumer bodies such as Which? energywatch, Consumer Focus and Citizens Advice. He has been a member of numerous industry advisory boards and committees from civil aviation to insurance fraud. Fuel poverty, consumer vulnerability and the challenge of decarbonisation have been key drivers throughout his career.