{"id":9378,"date":"2024-11-15T18:17:38","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T18:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/?p=9378"},"modified":"2024-11-15T18:17:38","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T18:17:38","slug":"vulnerable-groups-and-government-energy-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/vulnerable-groups-and-government-energy-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Government&#8217;s Energy Support Programs Praised, But Did They Miss Key Vulnerable Groups?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The UK Government&#8217;s immediate response to the <strong>energy crisis<\/strong> caused by <strong>COVID-19 and Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine<\/strong> has been praised by <strong>the National Audit Office (NAO)<\/strong>, which has described the plans implemented as an \u2018unqualified success\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>However, the measures were designed to protect businesses and households from soaring energy prices, which have seen average annual bills jump from \u00a31,277 in 2021-2022 to almost \u00a34,000 by early 2023.<\/p>\n<h2>Government Moves Quickly to Counter Energy Crisis<\/h2>\n<p>Between 2022 and 2023, the government launched eight support schemes, including the <strong>Energy Price Guarantee<\/strong>, costing \u00a344 billion\u2014far below the initial estimate of \u00a3139 billion. Factors such as <strong>lower-than-expected wholesale <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/quarterly-energy-prices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">energy prices<\/a><\/strong> and a <strong>milder winter in 2022<\/strong> contributed to the reduced expenditure.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ)<\/strong> reported that these efforts helped prevent approximately <strong>289,000 households in England<\/strong> from falling into <strong>fuel poverty<\/strong>. Furthermore, fewer households resorted to rationing or disconnecting their energy use during the crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the overall success, DESNZ noted that around <strong>238,000 households<\/strong> still fell into fuel poverty. Groups such as <strong>liveaboard boaters<\/strong> and homes without direct electricity supplier connections faced challenges in accessing support, with uptake among these groups significantly lower than expected.<\/p>\n<h3>Tackling Fraud While Balancing Urgency<\/h3>\n<p>Due to the haste with which the government has implemented <a href=\"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/universal-credit-hidden-support-for-uk-parents\/\"><strong>universal support<\/strong><\/a>, the<strong> NAO<\/strong> has recognized the dangers of value for money. Although the majority of eligible recipients benefited, the NAO found cases where money was paid to people who did not need it. There was relatively little fraud and error; <strong>only 0.7% of payments, or \u00a3291.8 million<\/strong>, were considered problematic.<\/p>\n<p>Challenges in understanding <strong>commercial energy use<\/strong> also led to uniform support for businesses, regardless of their actual energy consumption.<\/p>\n<h3>Lessons For the Future<\/h3>\n<p>The NAO emphasized the need for DESNZ to refine its approach for future crises. Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, noted: \u201cDESNZ needs to prepare for future energy price spikes and understand how potential interventions can maximize value for money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Efforts to improve engagement and tailor support more effectively are already underway. A DESNZ spokesman stressed the importance of <strong>clean, homegrown energy<\/strong> to reduce reliance on volatile fossil fuels, stating: \u201cOur mission for clean power by 2030 is key to achieving energy independence and reducing household bills.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>As energy prices soared to unprecedented levels, the UK government rolled out \u00a344 billion in support schemes to shield households and businesses. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","category-news","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9378"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9402,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9378\/revisions\/9402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}