Monday 1st September 2008
The National Housing Federation (NHF) officially launches Energy Action Week on September 1st, with events scheduled to run until the following Monday. Central to the itinerary for the week is a nationwide campaign to highlight consumer dissatisfaction with the price of utilities such as electricity and gas. So how exactly is the organisation asking for people to play their part in furthering its cause?
As the week begins, the NHF is calling on individuals to contact their MPs either by letter or, in some organised instances, by visiting their offices. In turn, the federation proposes that such concerns should be passed on to Malcolm Wicks, the government's energy minister. But it is not just individuals who are being approached by the NHF - it is also coordinating the efforts of more than 100 housing associations to lend their voices to the cause.
What are the HAs doing?
The housing associations involved in the week-long campaign are focusing on prepaid fuel meters, according to the NHF. Figures from the industry body indicate that those who use such a meter in their home could be literally paying the price for doing so. Compared with the most competitive tariffs available to online customers, fuel bills on prepaid meters can be up to £300 more expensive, the organisation claims.
As many of the households which adopt a prepaid approach are amongst the poorest in the country - with average incomes of £16,000 per year - the NHF argues that those with the least money are being expected to meet the highest cost for their fuel. Chief executive David Orr comments: "People using prepayment meters are fed up with being ripped off by the energy companies and want their local MPs to stop paying lip service to tackling the problem."
How can I help?
If you want to add your own concerns to the national outcry that the NHF seems to be calling for, the federation has a few suggestions on how to get involved. Visitors to the organisation's website are given the chance to email their MP as part of its ongoing campaign to highlight the greater cost of prepayment utility meters. Simply entering a postcode into the relevant box on the site generates an automated email addressed to the relevant MP for that jurisdiction, ready to be sent. Alternatively, the NHF notes that individuals may choose to write by post to their MP by addressing mail to the House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA.
On a larger scale, tenants of housing association projects are being offered an action pack to help coordinate their activities, which incorporates a briefing on major facts relating to prepaid meters, a press release template for highlighting local activities with the media and a framework for the type of letter which should be sent to officials. Such mail should be sent via the chief executive of the housing association in question, the NHF suggests.
What else can I do?
The NHF reports that, since the beginning of 2007, more than 100 of the housing associations it represents have written to utilities providers calling for action to be taken on their tariff pricing. Now it is asking for more to be done, with the total number of letters it wants to be sent in 2008 standing at twice the previous year's total. The organisation's website again has details of how you can make contact, this time in the form of a page listing the postal address for the UK's major utilities suppliers.
Consumers wishing to add their voice by contacting their supplier, rather than their MP, can get in touch with the NHF for more information, including a template letter to send to the company responsible for the majority of their area's supply and a press release containing more details about energy suppliers and their pricing policies.
Is it working?
Recently, the NHF has noted some action - particularly from E.ON - although the picture is not as clear as it might first seem. In August, the federation welcomed the announcement by E.ON that it is to standardise its charges across both standard credit customers and those on prepaid meters. But the NHF pointed out that this announcement comes alongside the news that E.ON is putting up prices across the board.
Mr Orr said at the time of the announcement: "While it is deeply disappointing that E.ON's customers will all have to pay more, hundreds of thousands of prepayment customers will no longer simply have to pay more because they are poor."
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