End Fuel Poverty Coalition

Secret courts’ still handing out warrants for energy firms to break into homes

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/secret-courts-still-handing-out-warrants-energy-firms-break-homes

 Money is stacked on top of an energy bill, February 3, 2025

ENERGY companies are still relying on closed magistrates’ court hearings to secure warrants against households with unpaid bills, more than three years after the pre-payment meter scandal.

Magistrates are still sitting in private to authorise forced entry, often approving hundreds of warrants at a time based on applications they have never personally reviewed, an investigation by the Standard newspaper revealed yesterday.

It was revealed in 2022 that magistrates’ courts across Britain were effectively rubber-stamping mass batches of warrants for debt agencies, acting on behalf of energy firms.

Many of those targeted were among the poorest households, already hit by the cost-of-living crisis, with agents breaking into homes to install expensive pre-payment meters.

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A new court process for approving warrants was introduced in April 2024 following approval by Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring.

The revised system was intended to introduce safeguards, including a requirement for energy firms to give at least 10 days’ notice of an application, to attempt contact with a household at least 10 times and to wait at least a month after a missed bill before applying for a warrant.

But a year-long probe found that magistrates are now carrying out the work almost entirely in secret, sometimes from home.

Failures by debt agencies to comply with legal requirements were also found to be routinely brushed aside.

End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said the findings exposed “a deeply troubling practice where people struggling with unaffordable energy bills are condemned through the courts out of sight and without a voice.”

He said: “It’s time to stop criminalising energy debt and allowing these cases to be pursued through a court system which is clearly unfit for the purpose.

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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/secret-courts-still-handing-out-warrants-energy-firms-break-homes

Continue ReadingSecret courts’ still handing out warrants for energy firms to break into homes

Household energy debt soars to £4.43 billion

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Image of cash and pre-payment meter key
Image of cash and pre-payment meter key

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/household-energy-debt-soars-ps443-billion

HOUSEHOLD energy debt has soared to £4.43 billion, leaving hundreds of thousands trapped in arrears, new figures revealed today.

Figures from Ofgem show that energy debt has more than tripled since the end of 2020, when the figure stood at £1.45bn.

The regulator reported that there are currently 1,133,683 electricity customers and 926,545 gas customers in debt without any repayment arrangement in place. 

The debt is leaving households facing up to an extra £145 a year on their bills to cover the collective shortfall.

End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said: “Energy debt is now driving people into dangerous financial positions as we approach the fifth winter of the energy bills crisis.

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A new analysis by think tank Common Wealth shows that 24 per cent of the average energy bill went towards pre-tax profits by the energy industry.

Robert Palmer, deputy director of Uplift, said: “Yet again while shareholders are celebrating rising prices and huge profits, people are facing stark choices of how to ration their energy.

“Only by supporting struggling households now, improving energy efficiency and getting us off expensive gas through homegrown renewable energy will ministers be able to get a grip on the situation.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/household-energy-debt-soars-ps443-billion

Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Image of Keir Starmer and a poor child.
Zionist Keir ‘Kid Starver’ Starmer. Image thanks to The Skwawkbox.

Continue ReadingHousehold energy debt soars to £4.43 billion

‘Never-ending cost-of-living crisis’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/never-ending-cost-living-crisis

 An online energy bill

Labour urged to reform energy pricing over surprise rise in bills

LABOUR was urged to reform energy pricing yesterday as unions and campaigners warned that a surprise 2 per cent rise in bills will hit 12 million homes already in fuel poverty.

GMB union hit out at the “never-ending cost-of-living crisis” after regulator Ofgem announced that the average household’s energy bill is to rise to £1,755 a year from October — despite wholesale prices falling by 2 per cent over the past three months.

Standing charges — the figure consumers pay per day to have energy supplied to their homes — are set to rise by 4 per cent for electricity and a whopping 14 per cent for gas, or 7p a day.

The 2.21 per cent year-on-year rise means average annual energy bills will be £713 higher than in winter 2020/21.

GMB national secretary Andy Prendergast said: “People are already struggling under a never-ending cost-of-living crisis.

“Any increase in energy prices could crash millions of household budgets.

“To make any green transition work, the UK has to be pragmatic: taking advantage of cheap gas prices to cut bills instead of subsidising heat pumps for the richest.

“The poorest in society must not be the ones who bear the biggest burden for saving our planet.”

Energy minister Michael Shanks blamed wholesale gas prices remaining 75 per cent above their levels before Russia invaded Ukraine. 

But End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said: “We need urgent reforms to fix the broken pricing system, steps to ensure households benefit from targeted support for cold homes, a nationwide insulation and ventilation drive, reform of energy trading rules and lower standing charges.

“Meanwhile, expansion of renewables and upgrading the grid must be funded by investment or by tackling excess network and energy company profits, not by loading more costs onto struggling households.”

Pointing out that gas unit rates remain almost double pre-crisis levels and the cost of electricity in Britain is set by the most expensive generator — usually gas-fired power stations — he added: “It’s time for action — wind and solar are far cheaper ways of generating power and North Sea gas reserves are unable to meet domestic heating needs from 2027.”

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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/never-ending-cost-living-crisis

Continue Reading‘Never-ending cost-of-living crisis’

Campaigners urge government to prioritise ending fuel poverty in home upgrade plan

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/campaigners-urge-government-prioritise-ending-fuel-poverty-home-upgrade-plan

 An elderly lady holding a cup of tea at home in Liverpool with her electric fire on

THE Warm Homes Plan should be judged on how much it cuts fuel poverty rather than focusing on technical targets, campaigners urged the government yesterday.

The £13.2 billion scheme aims to improve energy efficiency in five million homes by 2030.

End Fuel Poverty Coalition has written to energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh, outlining key recommendations to ensure it delivers for those most in need.

Campaigners suggest that the scheme’s success should not be judged by how many insulation measures are installed, or homes moved to EPC band C, but by how far it goes in ending fuel poverty. 

About five million households in Britain are trapped deep fuel poverty, according to a University of York study.

Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition (EFPC), said: “Cold homes cause suffering, cost lives and drive up costs for the NHS. 

“The Warm Homes Plan can be the solution — but only if it’s designed around the real needs of people, not just technical targets.”

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article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/campaigners-urge-government-prioritise-ending-fuel-poverty-home-upgrade-plan

Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.

Continue ReadingCampaigners urge government to prioritise ending fuel poverty in home upgrade plan

‘The energy industry is taking us for April fools’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/the-energy-industry-is-taking-us-for-april-fools

Unite members take part in a day of action for Energy4All in Bradford, April 1, 2025 Photo: Neil Terry Photography

Energy giants rake in half a trillion pounds out of people’s misery, campaigners warn

GREEDY energy giants have raked in half a trillion pounds in profits since 2020, according to new data released today.

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition examined the accounts of 20 firms that produce, supply and distribute energy, and discovered that they pocketed more than £514 billion over the last five years.

Among the top earners were oil titans Equinor and Shell, which saw their profits swell to £140bn and £91.6bn while millions of people struggled with soaring costs.

Warm This Winter spokesperson Caroline Simpson said: “It’s incomprehensible in so many ways and plain wrong that a mere 20 companies have made so much money out of people’s misery.

“The industry can spare a few of their many billions to bring down bills, pay for energy efficient homes and switch from oil and gas to save the planet.”

Households are set to be hit by even higher bills as the Ofgem price cap rises by 6.4 per cent this week.

The average bill is expected to rise by £111 to an average of £1,849 a year.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/the-energy-industry-is-taking-us-for-april-fools

Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.

Continue Reading‘The energy industry is taking us for April fools’