Fuel poverty: England's poorest households won't all be properly heated for nearly 100 years

Porest and coldest households receiving improved insulation at a rate of only 1 per cent a year

In his Spending Review on 25 November, George Osborne referred to plans to upgrade the energy efficiency of one million homes within the lifetime of this Parliament (Getty)

England’s 2.3 million poorest and coldest households are receiving improved insulation at a rate of only 1 per cent a year – meaning they won’t all be properly heated for nearly 100 years.

Last year, the coalition vowed that “as many fuel-poor homes as reasonably practicable” would be improved to reach a middling Band C energy efficiency level. Energy bills for homes in this band are often more than £1,000 a year lower than for those with the poorest F and G ratings. Households in fuel poverty are judged to be those on low incomes but with high energy bills.

However, the shadow energy minister Clive Lewis and campaigners have pointed to official figures that suggest the Government will struggle to get anywhere near its 2030 target. In 2013 only 110,000 homes – about one in 20 of England’s 2.3 million fuel-poor households – had been insulated to Band C level, up from 40,000 in 2010. At the current rate of progress – about 1 per cent a year – barely a fifth of fuel-poor households will have reached Band C by 2030.

A spokesman for the Association for the Conservation of Energy said: “We believe this [analysis] to be true. To address the challenge of getting all fuel-poor homes to Band C is probably a century off and the Comprehensive Spending Review has not changed anything on that.”

In his Spending Review on 25 November, George Osborne referred to plans to upgrade the energy efficiency of one million homes within the lifetime of this Parliament.