We the undersigned call on the government to institute urgent fundamental changes to the present pricing structures for energy - the electricity, gas and heat supplied to UK homes. The new system we are calling for is Energy For All.
Unaffordable energy is causing many thousands of deaths every year, especially among those who are most disadvantaged, including older and disabled people, women and people of colour. It also causes widespread misery, ill health, and blighted childhoods.
The government and Ofgem are allowing energy firms to pocket huge sums from our bills. These sky high profits go on massive shareholder payouts and executive bonuses. More goes on extracting fossil fuels that are rapidly destroying the earth we live on.
Renewable energy from the sun, wind, waves and tides could supply all that the UK needs. Windy days provide so much energy that it could be given away for free. Instead, wind farm owners are being paid huge sums to turn off the turbines so they don’t overwhelm the grid. The money for this ‘curtailment’ is added to our bills.
Some electricity does go to customers for free, but mostly to well-off households. While renewables are being rolled out at speed, this is not being done in a way that helps most people. Cheap deals are benefitting some wealthier, tech-savvy customers, but most people in fuel poverty miss out.
We believe this situation requires fundamental change. Palliative measures and occasional financial relief do not solve the problem.
Fuel Poverty Action is calling for an alternative, fairer and greener system, Energy For All, where each household would receive enough energy to cover the needs of the people living there.
The principle of a free allocation of energy has been endorsed by many organisations including the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and New Economics Foundation (NEF), and has received strong support in public polls. The Energy For All petition has over 660,000 signatures.
As organisations and as individuals in responsible positions in UK civil society, we now call on the government and opposition parties to adopt and implement this proposal. This can begin with ensuring that everyone can access the bounty of renewable energy, with suitable means of storing energy for times of greatest need.
1. Each household will receive, free of charge, enough energy to ensure it can cover its needs.
Including for adequate heating, lighting, cooking, hot water, refrigeration, charging phones and digital connectivity, and, where needed, hearing aids, medical equipment, stairlifts, and wheelchairs.
2. This free energy will be delivered and paid for without expense to the general public.
- Distributing surplus energy currently wasted by switching off wind turbines and solar panels when the wind and sun are plentiful.
- Recouping billions of pounds in public money being spent subsidising fossil fuels and other damaging projects like nuclear, hydrogen, biomass power and carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS).
- Taxing energy corporations at the rates in place until the mid-2010s, and closing loopholes that allow companies making billions of pounds in profit to pay less tax than the average person.
- Applying a progressive ‘rising block tariff’ so that wealthy households pay more for using excess energy beyond their needs.
- Taxing the super rich to address growing poverty and inequality to replace regressive levies that charge us all equally.
3. UK housing will be built and brought up to a standard where people are not made ill by their own homes.
Safe, non-toxic, non-flammable insulation appropriate to the building, and sound heating systems will be installed by skilled workers in consultation and with accountability to residents. All rented property will be kept in good repair. Tenants will be protected against “renoviction”, no one will lose their homes through eviction or rent rises because the home is improved to be warm and dry.
It is a scandal that homes in one of the world’s richest countries are the coldest and dampest in Europe. These measures will reduce the amount of energy required to meet point 1, put low income households on a par with better off neighbours and greatly improve public health.
4. No one will be disconnected from vital supplies as a means of recovering debt.
No household will be forced to pay in advance for the energy they need by means of key or card prepayment meter in their home, or by means of a smart meter. There should be a permanent and statutory end to the installation of prepayment meters by court orders authorising intrusion in people’s homes, or remotely by smart meters set to prepayment mode against the customer’s will. Where an unwanted prepayment meter has already been installed, it should be removed on request without charge.
5. Injustices that artificially inflate our bills will be reformed or abolished.
- Decoupling the price of electricity from the much higher cost of gas.
- Ending unfair standing charges. These charges make up large portions of our bills, particularly for people who can only afford to use a little energy. They are spent unaccountably by energy firms including on high marketing costs and large executive pay packets.
- Scrapping levies for greenwashing technologies that will cause further environmental harm, named in point 2.
6. Everyone will benefit from a commitment to fairness in the provision of energy.
We must all have access to the benefits of cheap or free renewable energy, which currently go mainly to tech-savvy and well-equipped households. This includes:
- Excess power generated by wind and solar farms will be distributed for use by people who need it, instead of paying to turn off wind turbines and solar production.
- Rooftop solar installed on our homes and housing blocks will benefit the residents.
- Provision, upgrading, maintenance and fair tariffs for basic home storage equipment like storage heaters and hot water tanks.
- Access to heat pumps and heat networks that are quiet, user-friendly, reliable and guarantee fair prices.
- Well-funded development of community energy, with a right to distribute locally.
- Ending the exclusion of itinerant, off-grid, and other communities from current benefits and provisions.
- It will be a priority to ensure that the supply chain for energy infrastructure is non-exploitative, sustainable, and free of human rights abuses.
- Accountability to workers in the energy industry, with training and security for those transferring from jobs in fossil fuels to other employment.
Note: This Manifesto is intended to be signed by organisations of all kinds, and by leaders in faith, educational, entertainment, research, governmental, or any other institution, whether national or local. Please include with your signature your title, and position in the organisation or institution, stating locality where relevant. And please pass it on to others.