NEA, the national fuel poverty charity, welcomes the government’s commitment to address the necessary balance between which energy policies are funded by all energy consumers or paid for more progressively via direct taxation.

However, NEA also urges the government to recognise that, while short-term relief is welcome, much more is needed to help the ‘Many Faces of Fuel Poverty’.

While we welcome attempts to provide all energy consumers with some short-term relief from soaring energy prices, NEA believes more could be done in the Autumn Statement.

For example, we have been calling on the government to remove VAT on the levies we all pay through our bills, urging them to tax-fund planned relief for energy-intensive exemptions and most of all, address the most regressive levy, the carbon floor price. In addition, we also believe some practical implications of what is planned are still unclear and we need urgent clarity from both the government and industry.

Jenny Saunders NEA Chief Executive