Clare Short: With gas prices soaring 35 pc, we need to go to ground
Aug 5 2008 By Clare Short
Everyone is worried about their fuel bills. British Gas has announced that prices are to rise by 35 per cent. Only hours later they reported £1 billion in half yearly profits. Prices had already increased by 15 per cent earlier this year and another rise is predicted in the New Year.
This is a serious strain for family budgets and will cause a big increase in fuel poverty this winter. In 2007 there were nearly 3 million households in fuel poverty. This is the highest level for a decade and it is going to get worse. The price differences between rich and poor are very great. People using prepayment meters pay as much as £145 per annum more than those paying by direct debit.
The Government has set targets to eradicate fuel poverty amongst vulnerable households by 2010 and all households by 2016. The 2010 target will be missed and without a change of policy so will that for 2016.
Given that Britain has its own gas in the North Sea; it seems odd that we cannot protect ourselves better. The reality is that since privatisation, many of our companies are foreign owned and have no concern to protect British customers. The companies sell North Sea gas at low summer prices to themselves for storage in Europe and then sell it back to Britain at high winter prices.
The Government is said to be considering a windfall tax. Gordon Brown imposed such a tax in 1997, but I doubt that he will do it again. But whether he does or not, we need better regulation of the companies to prevent them ripping off the consumer.
The other thing we need is a serious commitment to cheaper renewable energy.
Sweden has taken a British invention which takes heat from the ground and uses a pump to concentrate it and use it to heat water. It is a replacement for gas, much cheaper and emits no carbon dioxide.
In Harrogate they installed this system in older peoples’ bungalows. Their bills went down, they were warmer and their health improved. I have written to the Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council to ask them to install this system in our public sector housing stock. I hope people who own their own houses will also join in.
Such a system is currently being installed in my London place. It involves drilling down to 45 metres in four places and inserting some pipes that absorb heat from the ground. (If your garden is bigger, they dig a trench). Then they install a machine that looks like a fridge freezer. In fact, it works like a fridge in the opposite direction. Pipes in fridges absorb heat and throw it out to make the inside cold. Heat pumps absorb the heat from the ground and concentrate it to heat water.
They then hook it up to the heating system and you get lower bills and no carbon dioxide emissions.
Currently Harrogate is the best authority in Britain for helping their citizens cut their bills and harmful emissions.
Following our Climate Change Conference, I hope Birmingham will commit to such a change. It would help save the planet and cut our bills. What more do we want?
