People nationwide Unite 4 Energy For All

On Wednesday 6th March, the day of the final budget announcement before a General Election, groups including Unite Community, National Pensioners Convention, Medact, Homes For All, DPAC, Friends of the Earth and more joined together in support of #EnergyForAll!

Nearly a year on from the launch of our Manifesto, a diverse coalition are actively pointing to our demand as the solution to the energy price crisis.

The day kicked off with a ‘Cold Homes Kill’ banner drop during the morning rush hour in Chesterfield. Protestors caught the attention of passengers at Birmingham New Street Station, with a die-in and mock funeral processions passed through Manchester and Leeds city centres. Locals held demos and outreach stalls across towns and cities in England, Scotland and Wales. One of the largest demos across the country took place in Westminster itself as the Spring Budget was announced. The crowd was addressed by MPs including Zahra Sultana.

Check out media coverage from The Canary and the Morning Star.

And share social media on TwitterInstagram and Facebook.

Guest blog: Lambeth Tenants Heat Campaign

Lambeth Town Hall

LAMBETH RESIDENTS FACE EVICTION WHEN WE CAN’T PAY ENERGY BILLS

As seen on BBC Morning Live, 15th December 2024

This guest blog has been prepared by tenants and residents of several Lambeth housing estates who have come together to form the Lambeth Tenants Heat Campaign, with support from Fuel Poverty Action and London Tenants Federation. More affected residents and other supportive organisations and individuals are now getting in touch.  

The blog includes the residents’ demands, background information, personal testimonies (anonymous and otherwise), statements of support, and their contact address.  They have written to Lambeth Council requesting an urgent meeting. 

Lambeth Tenants Heat Campaign can be contacted at [email protected]

Go here to read it.

Still from Morning Live report

Our largest mobilisation ever!

At the beginning of December, over 30 events took place across the UK demanding an end to fuel poverty!

Warm Ups took place at offices of three of the big five UK energy companies, in three different nations. Unite Community held Warm Ups and community outreach stalls in shopping centres, markets and town centres from Southend-on-Sea to the Isle of Arran!

For more detail, read this fantastic roundup from The Canary reporting from inside a Warm Up in The Glades Shopping Centre, Bromley.

We knew that one weekend of action would not be enough to win energy justice. But our pressure has been felt with progress on some of our demands.

Forced prepayment meters were due to resume in November, but Ofgem has been forced to delay the restart until 2024. And Ofgem is finally agreeing to review its unfair standing charges. We won’t stop fighting to permanently ban forced PPMs and abolish standing charges.

Join us and take action through Get Involved – Energy For All.

The Energy Pricing Revolution hits Westminster

Campaigners marching past parliament with an Energy For All banner and petition box

On July 4th, we’re taking our #EnergyForAll Manifesto to Parliament.

We need your help to ensure that MPs of all parties hear about our launch event and the demand for Energy For All!

Ask your MP to attend our Manifesto launch and sign in support of our demand for a cheaper, greener and fairer energy pricing system! Click here.

Based in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland?

You can also write to your devolved parliamentary representatives to ask them to add their name in support of the Manifesto! Click here.

Our Manifesto has been signed by over 150 organisations, community groups, businesses and elected officials so far.

Let’s keep that growing to build as much pressure as possible on MPs and parties to support. Take the Manifesto to your local community group, councillor’s surgery or union branch using our model motion and sign here.

You can read the full content of our Manifesto and view our full list of supporters at energyforall.org.uk.

Our Manifesto

On 23rd March, we launched a Manifesto for Energy For All. The Manifesto promises an Energy Pricing Revolution for a cheaper, greener and fairer energy pricing system to meet everyone’s needs.

Organisations, community groups, trade unions and more can sign to support. And as individuals you can email your MP asking them to sign!

See the list of groups that have signed so far. And watch the launch event with speakers including Ruth London, John McDonnell MP, Caroline Lucas MP, Clive Lewis MP, Paula Peters, Ian Hodson and Indigo Rumbelow.

Energy For All Manifesto Launch!

Join us this Thursday 23rd March 6.30 – 7.45pm for the online launch of our Manifesto!

Speakers to include Clive Lewis MP, Caroline Lucas MP, Anne McLaughlin MP and John McDonnell MP. Alongside Ian Hodson of Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, Mia Watanabe from the Warm This Winter Coalition, Paula Peters from DPAC, Indigo Rumbelow of Just Stop Oil and others.

We call on organisations, trade and tenants unions, community and faith groups, MPs, local authorities and distinguished individuals to sign in support of our Manifesto.

Email your MP asking them to do so now!

Join with groups including:

  • New Economics Foundation
  • End Fuel Poverty Coalition
  • Public and Commercial Services Union
  • Debt Justice
  • Disabled People Against Cuts
  • Don’t Pay
  • Global Justice Now
  • Social Housing Action Campaign
  • Tax Justice UK
  • Tipping Point UK
  • Uplift
  • Just Stop Oil
  • ACORN the Union and Living Rent
  • Power to the People
  • Breakthrough Party

Nationwide Days of Protest!

On January 21 and 22, 2023, Fuel Poverty Action and its supporters held Warm-Ups and vigils in towns and cities across the UK. The days were part of a week of action by Fuel Poverty Action and allied groups calling on the government to ban the forced installation of prepayment meters, #BanForcedPPMs, assist people in vulnerable situations to be returned to credit meters and demand #EnergyForAll. Warm-ups, vigils and demonstrations were held in Edinburgh, Liverpool, Exeter, London, Leicester, Cambridge and Birmingham. On Sunday January 22, under significant pressure, Grant Shapps issued a letter to energy providers demanding they voluntarily stop the forcible installation of prepayment meters. While we celebrate this significant win on our demand to #BanForcedPPMs, we continue to campaign for the government to do more. This weekend of actions followed numerous vigils demanding no more deaths from fuel poverty, when, on January 19, the Office for National Statistics announced 13,500 excess winter deaths last year.

Kicking off actions on January 21, protestors in Edinburgh entered and warmed up in the foyer of the Scottish Parliament building at around 10.30am, demanding the Scottish Government join the Labour Party and other notable institutions in pressuring the UK Government to implement a ban on forced switching to prepayment meters. This came after protestors interrupted First Minister’s Questions at the Scottish Parliament earlier this week, calling on Nicola Sturgeon to take this stance.

Moving south of the country, around 12pm, campaigners in Liverpool staged a warm-up at the Museum of Liverpool wrapped up warm and singing their original campaign song “Your Heating Chart” to the tune of “Your Cheating Heart”. At the same time, locals in Exeter stood outside an EDF call centre, one of the big six energy suppliers in the UK, with placards saying ‘Ban Forced Prepayment Meters’, ‘Energy For All’ and ‘Cold Homes Kill’.

Two warm-ups also took place in London. In central London, protestors and locals warmed up at the John Lewis department store on Oxford Street in the department store’s luxury sofas and armchairs and holding up a very large Energy For All banner. They then moved to warm-up in the iconic building of Liberty London which they peacefully left after being confronted by the store’s security.

Meanwhile, in Croydon, south London, members and supporters of the campaign group Fossil Free London warmed-up in a branch of Barclays Bank to protest against their continued funding of oil and gas, which is pushing up bills and driving climate breakdown, in solidarity with people who can’t heat their homes as a result of soaring bills.

Other demonstrations and vigils were also held in Leicester, Cambridge and Birmingham. In Leicester, a small group of locals held a vigil outside Leicester Town Hall, standing in the freezing cold to commemorate the lives lost to cold homes. In Cambridge, a demonstration was held at a Shell garage on Newnham Road with demonstrators highlighting fuel poverty and the role that energy companies play in rising energy bills. The next day, protestors and locals staged a warm-up in Birmingham.

Warm-ups, vigils and other actions gained traction in national news outlets with Fuel Poverty Action campaigners and supporters speaking multiple times on BBC news, Sky news and LBC radio to name a few.

This tide of pressure had clear results. On Sunday, we were greeted with a significant win demonstrating the power of collective action, when Grant Shapps demanded a voluntary ban on the forced installation of prepayment meters from energy companies. While we welcome and celebrate our achievement leading the government’s response, we also believe further action needs to be taken on prepayment meters and to ensure that everyone has access to the basic necessities of heating, cooking and lighting.

As energy companies have demonstrated they cannot be trusted to regulate themselves after unscrupulously requesting over 500,000 warrants to install prepayment meters, we demand the government #BanForcedPPMs for good and assists customers to be returned to credit mode. Moreover, we continue to demand Energy For All, a universal, free amount of energy to cover people’s necessities like heating, lighting and cooking – paid for by an end to all public money subsidising fossil fuels, a more effective windfall tax on energy companies and higher tariffs on luxury household energy use, as well as a national retrofitting scheme to bring housing up to adequate energy efficiency standards.

At this critical juncture, please keep up the pressure by calling or emailing Grant Shapps’s office using our template guide and sign-up to the #EnergyForAll campaign to demand an energy system that meets everyone’s basic needs.

The fight continues.

A huge win on PPMs after 4 days of action!

Between Thursday 19th – Sunday 22nd January, campaigners and locals came together in towns and cities across the UK to demand the UK Government #BanForcedPPMs and implement #EnergyForAll.

On the 19th, ONS released the excess winter deaths figures for 2021/22. We joined the National Pensioner’s Convention and others, holding our traditional vigil in Westminster to mark the date. Speeches were given by Lord Prem Sikka, John McDonnell MP, Jan Shortt (NPC General Secretary), Paula Peters (DPAC) and our own Ruth London. Following a minute’s silence, participants marched to Downing Street and laid a coffin at the gate.

On the same date, a similar vigil took place at Cardiff Central Square. Protesters also interrupted First Minister’s Questions in Edinburgh, challenging Nicola Sturgeon on prepayment meters.

On Saturday 21st, Warm-Ups organised by FPA, Don’t Pay and Fossil Free London took place at the Scottish Parliament, an EDF Call Centre in Exeter, the Museum of Liverpool, a Barclays Bank and department stores including John Lewis at Oxford Circus and Liberty of London.

Further demonstrations took place at Leicester Town Hall, a Shell garage in Cambridge and outside Octopus Energy Sales Hub in Birmingham!

We have succeeded in forcing the government to act! During the days of action, a crackdown was announced on energy companies forcing people onto prepayment meters. While we celebrate this success and reflect on the power of our collective action, we will continue to push the government to go further and implement an outright ban!

#BanForcedPPMs #EnergyForAll #ColdHomesKill #EndWinterDeaths

Fuel Poverty Action hold vigil outside Parliament to mourn people killed due to fuel poverty last year.

Fuel Poverty Action gathered campaigners and parliamentarians outside the Houses of Parliament on January 19, 2023, to hold a vigil demanding no more deaths from fuel poverty. On this day the Office for National Statistics announced the number of excess winter deaths last year.

On January 19, 2023, The Office for National Statistics announced 13,500 excess winter deaths in the year 2021/2022. In their analysis of the data, End the Fuel Poverty coalition found 2,731 of these were attributable to cold and damp homes with over 1000 lives being lost in December 2022 only.

Fuel Poverty Action, National Pensioner’s Convention, Don’t Pay and other groups, held a minute’s silence in memory of these deaths as Big Ben chimed for midday.  Speakers including Lord Prem Sikka, John MCDonnell MP, and leaders of NPC, FPA, Disabled People Against Cuts and the End Fuel Poverty Coalition addressed the vigil leading up to the one minute’s silence.

Pall-bearers dressed in black then slow-marched with a coffin bearing the latest excess deaths figure to Downing Street to hand in a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak calling for immediate action to end this annual scandal.

Several similar events are taking place across the UK this week with campaigners demanding the government ban forced switching of customers to prepayment meters (PPMs) by energy companies.

Since the UK came out of the COVID-19 lockdown, energy companies have secured nearly 500,000 court warrants to install prepayment meters in the homes of people in debt. Research by Warm This Winter produced figures from YouGov revealing that 64% of PPM customers are classed as ‘vulnerable’ with over half having disabilities or health conditions. Prepayment meter customers could pay in excess of £200 more for their energy this winter. 

The government has come under increasing pressure to act since Citizens Advice recently revealed that over 3 million people were disconnected due to running out of credit in 2022, more than in the past 10 years combined. The Business Minister, Grant Shapps, has done nothing to ban the forcible installation of prepayment meters beyond expressing ‘concern’.

We are calling for these meters to be removed from homes where they have already been installed – in defiance of suppliers licence conditions – when they are not safe or practical for the residents.

We also continue to demand that our current energy pricing system be replaced with ‘Energy For All’; a universal, free amount of energy to cover people’s necessities like heating, lighting and cooking. This would be paid for by ending all public money going towards fossil fuel subsidies, windfall taxes on energy company profits and implementing higher tariffs on excessive, luxury energy use.

For more information on Energy For All contact [email protected].

✊ TAKE ACTION IN JANUARY!

On January 19th, the Office for National Statistics will announce the number of excess winter deaths last year. Fuel Poverty Action call on our partners and allies to join us taking action around this date.

Register to Take Action!

🕰 VIGILS

Around January 19th, hold a minute’s silence in your local area to commemorate those who’ve lost their lives as a result of fuel poverty. Invite friends, family, colleagues or comrades to join you in a public place and contact us on [email protected] so we can connect you with others near you. 

📍 In London join a ‘Funeral March’. Meet at George V Statue, Old Palace Yard, Westminster at 11.30am for speeches and a minute’s silence before moving to Downing St. Wear black and bring a white flower.

(Nearest accessible tube station Westminster, Jubilee Line. Buses 3, 11 or 253 to nearby.)

📍Cardiff – On 19th January, meet at 11am in Cardiff Central Square.

📍Brighton – On 20th January, meet at 10.30am at the Brighton War Memorial, Old Steine.

📍Leicester – On 21st January, meet 11am at Leicester Town Hall.

Bring placards saying – ‘Energy For All’, ‘Cold Homes Kill’, ‘End Winter Deaths’ and ‘BanForcedPPMs‘.

📱 TAKE ACTION DIGITALLY 

Sign and share the 38 Degrees petition calling on energy companies to stop forcing customers onto prepayment meters!

Use our template text to phone (020 7219 8497) or email ([email protected]) Grant Shapps’ office demanding the government #BanForcedPPMs.

🔥 WARM-UPS

On January 21st, organise or participate in a Warm-Up protest. Warm-Ups were started by Fuel Poverty Action on the principle that if we can’t afford to heat our homes, we have the right to go to any public building and keep warm there. See this guide to organising one.

Warm-Ups so far expected in:

  • Edinburgh – Meet at 9.50am outside Canongate Kirk.
  • Exeter – Meet 12pm at the bottom of Grenadier Road, EX1 3QN.
  • Liverpool – Meet 11.30am at Pier Head by the Ferry Terminal.
  • North London – Meet 12pm at Cavendish Square Gardens, W1G.
  • South London – Meet 12pm The Venue, 5-7 Middle Street, Croydon.
  • Birmingham (Jan 22nd) – Meet 11am outside Octopus Energy Sales Hub.

Contact [email protected] if you’re interested in Warm-Ups.

📢 OUR DEMANDS

We demand a government ban on enforced switching to prepayment meters and the implementation of Energy For All.

💻 MEDIA PACK

Use our template press release guide to amplify your Vigil or Warm-Up.

See our social media pack to connect actions together online.

#BanForcedPPMs #EnergyForAll #ColdHomesKill #EndWinterDeaths