Respiratory and circulatory diseases are linked to living in a cold and damp home and amongst those living with fuel debt. NEA believes that given the outbreak, it’s now even more crucial to help keep people warm and well in their homes and create a living environment which gives people that are ill the best possible chance of recovery.

NEA recognises that many low-income households experience affordability issues with their essential household bills, rarely struggling with one bill in isolation, and as a result is delivering a programme of work which seeks to support ‘People Living in Water Poverty and Fuel Poverty’.

In our January 2020 response to Ofwat’s forward work plan, we acknowledged that driving innovation across the water sector was vital to address the strategic challenges the industry faces. We believe the innovation competition allows an additional opportunity for companies to address these key challenges.

District heating can contribute to fuel poverty reduction targets through its ability to provide stable and predictable prices for energy over an extended period of time; reduced worry for households about breakdowns or repairs; the creation of local employment opportunities and contribution to economic growth.

Driving consumer and societal outcomes through company performance should remain a key ambition of Ofwat so that it can continue to demonstrate the legitimacy of a privatised water sector even with the reduced risk of re-nationalisation following the recent general election. Developing a richer understanding of company performance is valuable, providing the commitment to do so leads to consistent and comparable metrics made visible to a wider audience, including customers.

Over the last year, NEA has worked alongside Citizens Advice on a number of issues in order to facilitate better outcomes for fuel poor and vulnerable households in the energy market.

Over the last year, NEA, alongside other consumer groups, worked with Ofgem to secure some key improvements in the treatment of domestic customers. In particular, we worked to ensure that low income and vulnerable customers had adequate protections in gas and electricity markets.

NEA has a long-standing interest in smart meters and their roll-out in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, particularly with regard to their impact on vulnerable consumers. NEA believes that smart metering has the potential to provide real benefits for vulnerable and low-income householders, but only if these individuals are effectively engaged and supported throughout their smart meter journey.

NEA Cymru welcomes the opportunity to respond to the committees inquiry in to fuel poverty and would like to thank the Committee for focusing on this important issue.