With around six million people predicted to be in fuel poverty this winter campaigners are urging the government to implement common-sense solutions that will both lower skyrocketing energy bills and cut harmful carbon emissions. Additional financial support is urged for those struggling to afford to heat their homes to ensure people stay warm and well during the colder months.
Campaigners gathered outside Reading Town Hall on Saturday 3 December as part of Warm This Winter, a UK-wide day of events pressuring the government to take swift and transformative action to stop people going cold this winter. Reading Friends of the Earth called the event to launch a local hub of the United for Warm Homes initiative.
Reading for Warm Homes aims to bring together people and organisations across the area to work towards a common goal: warm homes that don’t cost the earth. Campaigners are urging the government to support the needy, roll out a major national programme to fix all the UK’s poorly insulated homes, and scale up the production of cheap, popular clean energy.
Reading Friends of the Earth have analysed Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) data available for homes in Reading. EPCs estimate the energy consumption per unit floor area of a property and award energy ratings from A down to G. The average home uses about a third more energy than a C rating so there is a lot of scope for cost-effective improvement.
Local organisations are invited to contact Reading for Warm Homes to help persuade the government to do more for struggling people now, and to make future winters easier than this one. For more information please contact rfwh@readingfoe.org.uk. Background information is available on the United for Warm Homes website.