The Problem
Soaring gas prices are causing misery for millions across the UK. The average energy bill has almost doubled since October 2021 and analysts predict bills won't fall below pre-COVID levels until at least the end of the decade.
The energy crisis has made one thing clear: our housing stock and energy systems are broken. Without rapid, meaningful action, we’ll face continuous hardship. That’s why United for Warm Homes is calling for these 3 solutions:
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Urgent support for people dealing with sky-high energy bills. Millions of people are struggling with soaring bills and the rising cost of living. Even with the government's price freeze, the average energy bill has almost doubled in 12 months, leaving people facing impossible choices between staying warm and putting food on the table. Far more help is needed - through price guarantees, targeted extra payments, and fair energy pricing. The government must ensure everyone can afford the energy they need to keep their homes warm.
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A new emergency programme to insulate our heat-leaking homes. Upgrading our homes with insulation is the cheapest and easiest way to permanently reduce our bills and cut emissions. We’re calling on the government to roll out a rapid, street-by-street insulation programme, coordinated by councils. This should start with the neighbourhoods hardest hit by the crisis and be provided free of charge in areas where people are living on low incomes. This must be followed with deeper measures to upgrade our homes to ensure they are cheaper and greener to heat by 2030.
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An energy system powered by cheap, green renewables. To end the need for expensive and polluting gas in the long term, we must move to a homegrown, renewable energy system. This will require fitting millions of homes with modern electric-powered heat pumps and a rapid expansion of onshore wind and solar power across the UK, as well as our vast offshore renewable resources.
Working towards solutions
The United for Warm Homes Campaign asks local groups like us, New Forest Friends of the Earth, to work with others including existing climate and green groups and groups with common cause such as food banks, housing groups, faith groups.
Learn about the effects of cold homes in Prof Sir Michael Marmot’s report -
'Left out in the cold'
This national campaign is about uniting communities and putting pressure on the government to fix the energy crisis. Its goals are insulated, action on renewables and help for those struggling with heating homes. It involves joining forces across different interests and working together.
New Forest Friends of the Earth therefore asked different community groups and schools to help create a Warm Homes quilt. At a well-attended energy fair we organised in Brockenhurst, it was presented to both New Forest MPs. They were supportive.
We took the campaign to the next level when we met Dr Julian Lewis MP for New Forest East at Westminster. Here, Sir Michael Marmot, Professor of Epidemiology at UCL and Helen Barnard, Director of Policy, Research & Impact at the Trussell Trust, reported on the devastating health impacts of cold homes.
Locally, we are helping families by undertaking thermal imaging surveys using a borrowed thermal imaging camera (sadly we don’t have funds for our own). After the survey, we write a report and help the householder understand their energy leaks. We ask for a donation, where possible, not a fee and where people are in obvious poverty, we will do this free of charge. Two members of NFFoE have paid for vulnerable people to have a thermal imaging survey. This is ongoing, although we have to stop during the summer as the weather is too warm to allow effective thermal imaging.
We are pleased to have the full support of Dr Julian Lewis MP, and delighted to see that New Forest District Council are offering funding to improve the energy efficiency of New Forest homes.