By Jude McArdle
There were over 18,000 excess winter deaths in the UK in 2013, with 6,000 attributed to cold homes. Fuel Poverty Action campaigns against the ‘injustice of cold homes by turning up the heat on rip-off energy companies and the politicians in their pockets,’ fighting for renewable, affordable energy in the hands of people and communities, not private companies.
We interviewed Fuel Poverty Action’s Clare Welton – Group Member and co-ordinator, about the group’s work and why it is needed.
What brought you to Fuel Poverty Action (FPA)?
I used to be a teaching assistant, working near South London. Generally I felt that we were living in an unjust country. Terrible things happen. As a student I was involved in political activism on campus and then became really disillusioned after that. I could see that decision-makers were making decisions that were harming people’s lives. Particularly when I was working in a school in Brixton in 2011-2012,when you could really see the effects of austerity. You could really see the impact of cuts. Lots of children were coming into school hungry and cold, and there wasn’t really any support.
Also a lot of service provision is quite detached. It has to be detached from ‘political opinions.’ And then I discovered this group had been set up, trying to draw together the big issues around energy and democracy and the climate.
Citizens Advice Bureaus have been shut down, and people do come to FPA. Plus there’s a lot of direct action.
What kind of support work are you involved in?
Two years ago, increasingly people were getting in touch, calling, emailing; “I’m in loads of energy debt, I don’t know what to do. I’m having a prepayment meter fitted, I don’t know what to do. The energy company broke into my house and I don’t know what to do.” “I just can’t afford to keep my meter topped up.”
18 months ago we started thinking about what support work we could do. We didn’t want to replicate the client power relationship. We wanted to disseminate the knowledge, not solve the problem for you. Find ways to train so people can they can empower themselves to sort their own problems out. Once they’ve done that, they’re more likely to tell that to their neighbour if they’re in a similar position.
I’ve been supporting a pensioner couple for a year. British Gas (BG) were trying to get £11,000 out of them which they absolutely didn’t pay. I spent a year negotiating with BG and ended up getting it all written off.
On what basis written off?
In the end, I threatened that I was going to go to the media and talked about how awfully they’d treated an elderly company and that it would make them look terrible. That kind of threat. There was also disputes about whether they even owed that much money. They were also going through some really difficult times for personal reasons, during the period BG were sending round bailiffs. They were treated so terribly. I said to them ‘how do you think you’re ever going to come out of this looking well?’ It was an absolute struggle. You can see how difficult it is if you don’t have activists with you or working on your behalf for a year. These people in their 70s and 80s, how do you manage the phone lines, bailiffs, how do you manage any of that? It’s just impossible.
Primarily, we have a ‘know your rights guide’ which is free to download or printed copies are available: ‘what to do if you receive a letter, or turn up on your door step, force their way in’, with contact details.
Also we deliver energy rights training (of what’s in the booklet). One or two hour training sessions. We’ve done quite a few already with a few different groups and have a few more booked into the winter. What we’re seeing is people thinking, ‘fuck it, I’m going to call my energy company and I’m going to demand this from them’.
You said the energy companies force entry?
Energy companies don’t tend to disconnect you. There are only a few dozen of those a year in the UK. What they tend to do more of is installing a prepayment meter. That means they set the rate of repayment. They might set it at ten pounds a week. So whenever you’re topping up their meter, they’re getting that bit of debt money back from you. What that leads to is lots of people self-disconnecting when they run out of money. And what that means is they don’t get any energy which is quite effective for energy companies. They look like they’re not cutting anyone off but what they’re doing is passing responsibility back to households that can’t afford it.
There was a really awful example last year, a man called David Clapson, a diabetic man who was sanctioned and lost all his benefits. He had no money to keep his prepayment meter topped up so his fridge went off. His Insulin was in his fridge. That went off and he died. An example of how prepayment meters and benefit sanctions and the climate of austerity come together in a really punishing way. With the prepayment meters, often energy companies have to go to court to put the prepayment meter in. That means that when they come to your home and you’re not in, they can pick the lock and enter, find your meter, and replace it with a prepayment one and leave.
Obviously sometimes people are in and they think they’ve been broken into. We’ve had a few people come to our meetings with various horror stories; children with learning difficulties have been home alone when this happens or women who are survivors who are absolutely terrified by it. It is sanctioned by the law.
Research by the charity Church Action on Poverty into prepayment meters suggests there’s about 300 prepay meters installed every day and the majority of these will be through warrant visits.
I’ve read that fuel poverty adds to NHS costs, is that true?
It’s not. It’s definitely true but I think I’d be hesitant to put it like that. The Government are looking for as many reasons as they can to tell people not to go to A&E and not go to hospital. In some ways, I’d rather not play into that narrative. For example the Scottish Union of Nurses came out to say the Government should help people heat homes. There’s so many people who’s homes are so cold they’re ending up in hospital. I’d turn that around and say it is the government doing that to the health service and causing this by not acting upon it.
Can you tell us about the Energy Bill of Rights (EBOR)? It’s still gathering more signatures but none from Conservative or UKIP MPs. What do you think that says about the parties? Or do they not see fuel poverty as a problem?
It was declared in May and tabled as a motion in October. EBOR is a tool and a way of saying what we want. More and more of the Government are saying ‘be grateful for what you have, be grateful for the crumbs on the table’ and we say ‘no, we want it all and we deserve it all and we’re not gonna choose between.’ We decided to put the early day motion in. I think we’re not at all surprised there hasn’t been any Tory support. It proposes a more radical solution to energy than they want. The Government line has been ‘the Big Six are bad and everyone should switch’ and they don’t want to talk about the systemic causes or possible solutions for this poverty crisis. What we’ve put forward is a framework for a systemic fair future which gets to the root of the issue. Most politicians aren’t actually interested in actually doing anything useful. They’re certainly not interested in doing something which would lead to corporations moving out. One of the things we say is that energy should be a public good and that would mean corporations move out.
What’s the process / success with the EBOR?
I think it does run out at the end of Parliament, I guess in March. My understanding is, if there are ones that are really popular and have loads of signatures, MPs can then put forward a Bill. I think there’s absolutely no chance of that happening for us. We put it out there as a political idea and that was a pathway to do that.
I read BG’s profits have fallen – are people leaving providers? Do you advocate switching?
It’s not something we advocate (switching). If we’re talking one on one, it might be beneficial but it’s not something we’re going to advocate. We think it’s the government passing the responsibility back to us; ‘we’re not going to do anything about it, and leave it up to you.’
BG profits have fallen. However, Ofgen have said that for this winter, they expect to see big six profits rise again, potentially to the highest amount ever per household. Obviously this winter has been a lot colder. Also this wholesale price drop which hasn’t been passed on. We anticipate the company’s profits going back up. Also worth seeing the companies’ profit fall as a blip rather than indicative of how things are going to go on.
What have been your greatest achievements of the last year?
Good question. There are a few things. 1) I’ve worked really hard with outreach groups we work with. The action in November last year -pension protest; a pensioners’ die in on the road in Oxford Street with migrant groups, ESA groups, disability activists and mothers and, for us, we have this strong network of groups who do actions together. That’s an achievement. Lots of people talk about old people in terms of helping them or supporting them but actually they’re often the rowdiest of them all. Personally, I feel really proud of those relationships we’ve built up over time. We also support their events so it goes both ways.
2) EBOR – It’s good to have a positive vision. Often campaigns do ‘stop this, stop that’ but I think it’s really good to have a framework which is what we’re building towards.
3) Resources we’ve put together. None of us were experts in anything. We’ve worked hard and gone with what people wanted from us. They wanted advice from us. Information that’s beneficial for everyone and again, training, housing groups and womens’ groups and it’s been great to build relationships.
Is there anything coming up in 2015?
The big one is the election. I don’t think we’ll have anything massively big around it but I guess more the idea of using it as an opportunity to get our message out there; more training sessions and building relationships with Unions. Definitely do more street protests and training. We’ve been given a few minutes to talk at Rich Mix Energy Justice Assembly and quite a few groups are thinking about how we can have a more coherent vision of energy justice and democracy.
What can people do to help the cause and support?
Another good question. If people are part of community groups, neighbour groups, grassroots groups, they could benefit from training. We can do that for free. We have our resources and people can get in touch.
People can be part of the group, or sign up to support our EBOR. We have 40+ groups and student unions alongside the Early Day Motion. You can share on social media or write to your MP. That would be great. It’s EDM 395. Ask them to sign it.
Get involved in the group. We tend to meet every couple of weeks on a Thursday.
Where do people’s donations go / how are they spent?
If people wanted to give us money, and say ‘I’m happy for you to spent this on actions or workshops and info’, we’d absolutely make sure that’s what it’s used for. We have a really simple Cooperative account. It covers resources and expenses.
