The government published proposals for the ECO (Energy Company Obligation) scheme due to come to force in October 2018. FPA wrote with our concerns that the proposals, by excluding oil, risk the lives of rural residents. We also prompted a personal response from an oil customer in a rural home with no other realistic way to heat his family’s home. In August 2018 we learned that in a surprise change from their original consultation, BEIS have announced that they will continue to allow new oil boilers to be installed under ECO3 under the ‘Broken Boiler Cap’ (of 35,000 systems per year equivalent). BEIS expects that new oil boilers will be delivered mostly in rural areas. In addition, a 400% uplift will be available to provide support for the replacement of broken boilers (including oil-fired boilers) under the cap to low income, “vulnerable” and fuel poor households.
Read our letter to Claire Perry, the Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth below:
Letter to BEIS on Oil and Fuel Poverty
Fuel Poverty Action Meeting 29th February (tomorrow!)
Tomorrow is FPA’s next regular monthly meeting. We’ll be focussing on a presentation of some research that we’ve done on fire safety and building regulations – what’s happened post Grenfell and what the law states. We’ve been trying to find out who is responsible and what can we do about it?
We’ll have a discussion about this, as well as some regular meeting points, including an update on what’s happening around London with district heating.
The meeting is at 7pm, at Crossroads Women’s centre, 25 Wolsey Mews, Kentish Town, NW5 2DX. Do come along!
Housing needs to be both safe and warm! Join our public meeting to make this a reality.
Book your free tickets on Eventbrite by clicking this link.
Following the Grenfell atrocity, many high-rise blocks have had their cladding and insulation removed, leaving thousands exposed to illness and death from cold. Last winter over 11,000 people died from cold homes. Like deaths from fire due to shoddy building standards and unaccountable public and private landlords, deaths from cold in this rich country are a shocking and unacceptable tragedy. Residents on many housing estates, new and old, are fighting for insulation – but it has to be safe!
At the same time more and more housing estates are being fitted with district heating networks. Communal heating could save both money and carbon but in practice it is unregulated and often done badly, leaving many residents cold and out of pocket. Also, without thorough inspection, pipes can be left with gaps around them that provide thoroughfares for fire and smoke.
This meeting will be a great opportunity to discuss what residents are demanding and can demand, and exchange ideas and experiences with housing activists, experts on insulation, construction and maintenance, and political decision-makers.
The meeting will be on 18th January, 18.30-21.30 at Crossroads Women’s Centre, 25 Wolsey Mews, NW5 2DX. The venue is wheelchair accessible.
Confirmed speakers include:
***Ishmael Francis-Murray, lifelong Lancaster West resident. Check out his documentary, Failed by the State (https://www.youtube.com/
***Cllr Emma Dent Coad, Labour MP for Kensington, and author of ‘After Grenfell: Housing and Inequality in Kensington and Chelsea, the most unequal borough in Britain’.
***Sian Berry, Green Camden councillor and London Assembly Member. As Mayoral candidate, Sian proposed free insulation for all homes.
***An architect from Concrete Action, an independent network of architecture professionals.
Book your free tickets on Eventbrite by clicking this link.
Reply from Minister Claire Perry – October 2017
We received a reply from Claire Perry in response to our letter about failing housing standards (see Dying from Cold and from Fire – because standards are not enforced). It is embedded below, or you can download it here.
Response from Clare Perry 30 October