npower And Fuel Poverty

npower spends just 0.07% of its turnover on tackling fuel poverty.

The Observer, today, highlights that npower, in a letter to Ofgem in September 2007, said:

"We believe that the interest of the fuel poor is best served by a mandatory social tariff and this is the only means by which the government's 2010 and 2016 [fuel poverty] objectives can be achieved. There is no obvious reason why these targets will be delivered within a competitive retail market."

760,000 children are living in fuel poverty in England. If the government is serious about its legally binding target to end fuel poverty in England by 2010, Alistair Darling should listen to npower, and put something in his budget this week.

Edited (9th March, 1655): The Sunday Times has an interesting story about how npower, and other energy companies, are raising the rates for people who use less power: that is, the ones who are conserving energy far more than the average household.

Alistair Nicoll, 55, a research manager at Sheffield University, is among those whose bills have increased dramatically. In January, npower raised its gas bills by an average of 17% a year. But Nicoll, who prides himself on saving energy by putting the gas heating on for just 20 minutes a day to heat his water, saw his gas bill rise by 31%. "The house is very well insulated," he said. "Because I am a careful user of energy I feel I have been penalised."