UK ‘worst in Europe’ on fuel poverty

The UK performs most poorly overall among 16 European countries, across a range of housing and fuel poverty indicators, according to the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE). In a comparison of 16 European nations, the UK ranks 14th on fuel poverty, with a higher proportion of people who are struggling to pay their energy bills than every other European country assessed except Slovenia and Ireland.

The UK also ranks last on the proportion of households that say they are unable to afford to adequately heat their homes, according to ACE. Poor levels of insulation see UK homes fall way behind those of comparable European countries like Sweden, Germany and Denmark.

As a result, the UK’s most energy inefficient homes, rated G on an A to G scale, must spend £2,670 each year on energy on average to heat and light their homes. Many of the least energy efficient properties in the country are found in rural constituencies.

The research therefore highlights the need for an energy efficiency programme that can reach every part of the UK.

Over 50 leading businesses and energy leaders, representing over 100,000 employees and including Co-operative Energy, the Energy Saving Trust, Kingfisher, Willmott Dixon and Worcester Bosch have called on the government to deploy infrastructure budgets to create a new energy efficiency national infrastructure programme.

Jenny Holland, Head of the Parliamentary Team at ACE, said: ‘Of the 26mn households in the UK, four out of five have poor levels of energy efficiency, rated band D or below. As today’s findings clearly show, this places our nation right at the bottom of the European rankings for housing and fuel poverty and represents an energy bill crisis for UK consumers.