OFTEC has called for a “just transition” to low carbon heat for rural households ahead of Warm Homes Week 2021.
Rural households must be offered a fair, more affordable route to cutting emissions from home heating to prevent more being pushed into fuel poverty, it said in support of Warm Homes Week (27-30 September).
The annual event, run by National Energy Action (NEA), brings hundreds of organisations together to explore the challenges and solutions needed to tackle the scourge of cold homes and fuel poverty.
While latest government statistics show the number of fuel poor households in England down 1.6% on the previous year, 3.18 million are still struggling to meet their energy costs.
The figures also highlight that off gas grid households are more likely to be fuel poor than those on the gas grid – 18.2% vs 12.7%.
This is largely because rural properties tend to be older, larger and less energy efficient, making them more difficult and expensive to heat.
Malcolm Farrow, head of public affairs at OFTEC, said: “Decarbonisation is going to be extremely costly, there is no getting around this fact. Financial support is, quite rightly, being offered to the fuel poor but our concern is how rural households who are ‘just about managing’ will meet the high cost of installing a new low carbon heating system plus the expensive home insulation improvements often needed.
“The risk is these households will either be pushed into financial difficulty or simply not able to take action, so progress on decarbonising the off-grid sector will stall.”