Nearly a quarter of all Suffolk households could enter fuel poverty as the cost of living crisis bites, Suffolk’s Bishop warns. In these turbulent and uncertain times, the Bishop has underlined the responsibility to care for the poor and most vulnerable, and for the environment.
The Rt Rev Martin Seeley, Bishop of the St Edmundsbury and Ipswich Diocese, is highlighting a huge rise in families struggling to earn enough money to pay for their heating bills. And he warns that a large number of Suffolk households will not benefit from the cap on gas prices because they are not able to access gas. He has urged the Government to ensure that those households without a mains gas supply are not overlooked.
Bishop Martin has raised the issue close to his heart speaking in the House of Lords during the debate on the economy earlier this month too. The Bishop’s call for urgent action was noted by Lord Callanan, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Lord Callanan said Bishop Martin had raised the important subject of fuel poverty and added: ‘‘The Government are also aware that the energy price guarantee will leave those households currently with unregulated energy sources, such as those living off the gas grid, with uncapped bills this winter. ‘‘However, our objective is that all households, regardless of their heating source, will be no worse off than an equivalent domestic gas household under the energy price guarantee.”
Bishop Martin appealed to the Government saying: ‘‘We are hearing of pensioners having to go back to work to make ends meet, and more young working parents in Suffolk coming with embarrassment for the first time to a food bank or a top-up shop to be able to feed their family. Please do not make this situation worse.’’
‘‘In my beloved Suffolk, in 2020 there were 48,000 households in fuel poverty. This year, according to the Suffolk Community Foundation, on which I serve as a patron, even with the energy price cap, that will rise to at least 75,000 households, and probably closer to 100,000—more than a quarter of all Suffolk households."
The Suffolk Community Foundation is soon to launch an emergency appeal – The Cost of Living Surviving Winter Appeal.
Bishop Martin said: “In Suffolk, close to 29% of properties are off-grid for gas—double the national average for England. That is 29% that do not benefit from the cap on gas prices. I know that the Government have recognised the need to support those off grid by offering an additional £100 per year in support but, given the price of fuel oil, that will barely make a dent.’’
In the same speech Bishop Martin also challenged the government on the proposals to permit “fracking” and to issue a new round of licences for oil and gas extraction.
“These are seriously retrogressive steps that will harm not only our progress in attaining environmental targets, but also harm our credibility in encouraging other nations to respond to the climate crisis. The Government seems to be giving with one hand and taking with the other and in the long run these steps make little economic or strategic sense. If His Majesty’s Government are to continue on this path, I plead with them to have both a climate strategy and an anti-poverty strategy that shape and are absolutely intrinsic to the growth plan, not dispensable options. We are all in this together; no one must be left behind,’’ he said.