Fuel Poverty Awareness Day is a national campaign that highlights the problem of fuel poverty. Over 135,000 households in the South London are struggling to afford the energy they need to stay warm and healthy in their homes.
COVID-19 is exacerbating the problems people face, with many households facing huge losses in income and spending long periods of time at home running up higher bills and getting into debt.
Giles Read, Director of not-for-profit Fuel Poverty prevention organisation Thinking Works, said ‘the current level of fuel poverty in London is simply unacceptable. Living in a cold home can lead to extremely poor health, especially in those who are vulnerable such as older people, young children, and those with long term sickness and disabilities. The effects of the pandemic will cause misery for millions of people this winter and is placing a huge strain on our already stretched health services. In South London alone, one in ten households are believed to be in fuel poverty.
‘There is however excellent work going on to tackle this problem. Programmes like South London Healthy Homes offer free practical support over the phone or online helping people stay warm for less.
To find out more about the support on offer in South London call South London Healthy Homes on 0800 169 1779 or visit the below website to register interest: www.cact.org.uk/swtw