60% of people struggling over cost of heating homes

ALMOST 60% of people are having difficulties covering the cost of heating their homes, according to a survey.

Carried out by Elizabeth Finn Care, which provides grants and support to people struggling to make ends meet, it also found that 35% of people here living in fuel poverty run the risk of being ill this winter, with 40% of these people saying that heating their home is the main financial concern over the upcoming months.

Finbarr Fitzpatrick, the Irish National Officer for Elizabeth Finn Care, warned that as energy bills increase, it was expected the number of people becoming ill, as a direct result of not having a heated home, will also rise.

“The fact that people know they will get ill this winter, but are unable to take any action to prevent this, is very concerning,” he said.

The survey also revealed that people are aware of the structural effects fuel poverty is having on their property. Almost half (46%) of respondents who are having difficulties covering the cost of heating their homes said they have draughts from doors and windows, with 18% of people claiming to have mould on walls and 22% damp fabrics in their homes.

Meanwhile, the Government still has not published a detailed report on fuel poverty.

According to Energy Minister Eamon Ryan, publication of the Fuel Poverty Action Research Project was delayed due to the “accidental loss of some key data”.

He said he expected it would be published before the end of the year.

The most recent research figures available on the numbers at risk of fuel poverty are contained in the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan published in May this year.

The Economic and Social Research Institute estimates that 301,368 or 19.4% of Irish households may have experienced fuel poverty in 2008. The average waiting time for approval and participation in the warmer homes scheme, which provides energy efficiency improvements to homes in, or at risk of, fuel poverty, currently ranges between six and 10 months.