Category: Uncategorised

Posted on

National Day of Action on Fuel Poverty

As part of the Warm This Winter coalition’s National Day of Action, Fuel Poverty Action and allied groups conducted ‘Warm-Ups’ in towns and cities across the UK to demand Energy For All.

Over the weekend of December 3rd and 4th, Warm-Ups took place in Brighton, Bristol, Glasgow, Hastings, Islington, Liverpool, Oxford and Stratford.

Register: Upcoming Warm-Up training on Wednesday 21st December, 7pm.

Around 9.30am, Glasgowegians Warmed-Up outside Scottish Power HQ and sat down with blankets, sleeping bags and hot water bottles, singing and dancing, and chanting “Bills too high, pay too small, we need Energy For All!” to stay the morning chill away.

In London, Just Stop Oil supporters got cosy in beds and sofas in Harrods while FPA and Don’t Pay members warmed up in the British Museum.

In Hastings, locals entered a branch of Barclays bank – while others warmed up in shopping centres around the country.

You can support the campaign by emailing your MP to demand a Universal basic energy allowance and calling on the government to keep us #WarmThisWinter.

Posted on

Day of Action December 3rd!

On December 3rd we are participating in Warm This Winter’s Day of Action on fuel poverty!

In collaboration with Don’t Pay UK and other movements, we are conducting ‘Warm-Ups’ in towns and cities across the country. Warm-Ups are entering and occupying a space as a group to keep warm and demand action on fuel poverty.

Warm-Ups are being planned in:

  • Brighton – Meet 10.30 at Clarence Square
  • Bristol – Meet 12.00 Bond St
  • Glasgow – Meet 08.30 Glasgow Central
  • Hastings – Meet 12.30 207-8 Queens Road
  • Islington – Meet 12.00 Russell Square Gardens
  • Liverpool – Meet 12.00 Church Street
  • Manchester – Meet 13.00 Piccadilly Gardens
  • Oxford (Dec 4th) – Meet 12.00 Carfax Tower
  • Stratford – Meet 12.00 Stratford Westfield Stairs

And more!

Contact [email protected] to be connected with local organisers or if you’d like to organise your own.

Posted on

Warm-Up Training

We’re teaming up with Don’t Pay UK to give Warm-Up training! 🤝

What’s a Warm Up? – It’s entering and occupying a public space as a group to keep warm. We take these actions due to unaffordable fuel costs at home and to demand action.

Register here – 🕗Wed, 16 November 2022, 19:00 – 20:30 GMT

#EnergyForAll #WarmUp

Posted on

Energy For All Petition Hand In – October 19th

FPA are campaigning for Energy For All, a universal, free band of energy to pay for necessities of heating, lighting and cooking. Please join over 600,000 people in signing our petition supporting the demand and share far and wide. Sign up for updates and to get involved!

We will be taking our petition to Downing Street on Wednesday 19th October at 2.30pm. We will assemble at George V Statue, Old Palace Yard, at 1pm to hear speeches. We hope you can join us on the day!

Can’t be there in person? Support #EnergyForAll from home by sharing social media content and joining our digital action. See our toolkit.

Posted on

E4A Campaign Welcome Calls

Get involved: End fuel poverty in the UK and demand climate justice!

We are organising to win Energy For All and that means building a movement capable of shifting power.

Our next fortnightly welcome call takes place October 5th! Register here.

Join a call to learn more and find your place in the movement!

Posted on

Press Release: TUC backs a free band of energy

TUC  backs demand for free energy to cover basic needs. 

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has come out in favour of a free band of energy, paid for by higher tariffs for “profligate” energy users!

The energy prices being forecast for this autumn are simply unpayable. They would cause debt, hunger, and even more thousands than usual dying of cold this winter.  But as a new report from the TUC points out, this deadly predicament facing UK households is “not inevitable”.  

Ruth London from Fuel Poverty Action says, “We agree with the TUC –: State handouts and tweaking the system are no solution to a disaster on this scale. Fundamental changes are necessary, and urgent. Competition in the energy market has not worked –- it has been a disaster.  Energy is a right. It should be in public hands and distributed fairly, to warm, safe, well insulated homes”.  

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has for the first time backed Fuel Poverty Action’s demand for  a free band of energy to every household to cover basic lighting, heating and cooking needs like keeping the lights on, keeping warm, and running a fridge. This would be paid for by charging for energy used beyond a certain high-usage threshold at a significantly higher rate, so that very profligate energy users pay more per unit. (1)

Fuel Poverty Action say further funds should come from windfall taxes and an end to the millions of pounds of public money now spent every day on subsidising gas and oil.  That would ensure that everyone would have enough for their needs, taking account of housing conditions and their health and age. 

This demand has been gathering support at a speed that no one expected.  Our petition has 407,000 signatures.  In a nationwide ICM poll,  75% of the population supported a free band of energy, with only 10% opposed.  

The silence from the government poses a question: “What are they waiting for?”  

ENDS

For media enquires please contact:

  1. Full report here: https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-07/Public%20energy%20public%20paper%20-%20web.pdf
  2. Executive Summary: https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/fairer-energy-system-families-and-climate
  3. Energy Live News: https://www.energylivenews.com/2022/07/25/government-faces-urgent-call-to-nationalise-all-energy-suppliers/
  4. The Canary: https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2022/07/25/tuc-announces-plan-to-tackle-soaring-energy-bills-which-favours-workers-over-shareholders/
Posted on

It’s our 10th birthday!

You are warmly invited to Fuel Poverty Action’s 10th birthday party!

We are bringing members, friends and allies – both past and present – together on Thursday 30 September, 2021, to share stories, achievements, memories from the past, and hope for the future. We will also be launching our Crowdfunder to raise money to keep our part-time worker – Maddy. 

As energy prices soar, endangering people’s health and even lives, FPA is needed now more than ever. 

WHAT: Fuel Poverty Action’s 10th birthday celebration and Crowdfunder launch

WHERE: Zoom

WHEN: 10th Birthday Party 7pm, following our 6.30pm AGM 

RSVP: If you are planning on joining, please RSVP to [email protected] with the email subject ‘registration FPA 10th birthday’.

Remarkably, ten years on from its formation in 2011, Fuel Poverty Action is still going, still equally devoted to both poverty elimination and climate goals, and determined to both acknowledge and find ways to overcome contradictions, or apparent contradictions, between the two. It is not common for small grassroots organisations without consistent funding, or support from academic, industry, or NGO institutions, to survive so long. When that happens, like in the case of FPA, it’s worth celebrating!

At the time of a gas crisis, coupled with the price cap being lifted on 1st October, let’s come together to share and reflect on what we have all been doing. We invite you all to come see the inside of what it’s like to campaign on fuel poverty, housing and climate change all together. Take a moment to remember, celebrate and commemorate with us; then gear up to bring this to the ongoing battle.

The final portion of the event will be the launch of our Crowdfunder! Fuel Poverty Action needs more resources to be able to meet the ever-growing demand for our time, accumulated experience and expertise. Help us make sure that we can continue to stand up for families affected by fuel poverty for another ten years by supporting our Crowdfunder launch.

We hope to see many of you there!

-Alexa, Maddy, Ruth, and the rest of the FPA team

Posted on

Read all about it! FPA Annual Report for 2020

For millions of people finding money for fuel bills is more of a crisis than ever, in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. More energy is needed when people are stuck at home, while many incomes are reaching rock bottom and debts are mounting up. People are rationing not only heat and electricity but food. Many have found that their grocery bills have increased. One in five families with children have been going hungry in this wealthy country — and in poorer parts of the world, famines are underway. Heat, power, and food are essentials for health — as is good housing. Not accidentally, the poorest communities, and particularly people of colour, are facing the highest death toll, along with older people, especially in the undervalued, under-resourced, underbelly of care, UK “care homes”.

This is the horror now being confronted by a groundswell of grassroots people andnetworks, organising to support our own families and communities and to demandfrom the government, from politicians, and from businesses, a total reversal ofpriorities. Health must come first, and an economy that prioritises the market hasbeen shown not to deliver on health. Brutal realities that have long been clear to millions who are fighting over fuel bills, housing, heating, food and inadequateincomes, are now public for the world to see. So is the money that can clearly befound when wanted, for instance for furlough and huge sums to keep businesses afloat. What seemed impossible has proved to be both do-able and essential.

At this moment of clarity, and with so many people and organisations coming together, we have a chance to move away from the deadly energy markets andhousing provision that kill 10,000 people a year in cold homes and leave many others with no home at all. And at the same time, as the clock nears midnight, we may havea chance to avert the worst of a climate apocalypse.

Read the full report below, or download the PDF here.

Fuel Poverty Action Annual Report 2020