Action need to stop energy firms ripping off Norfolk's
households.
Vulnerable families and pensioners need help in face of rocketing energy bills
North Norfolk's Conservative Spokesman, Trevor Ivory, has called for urgent new measures
to help families and pensioners across Norfolk who are facing soaring energy bills and are
struggling to make ends meet this winter. The average gas and electricity bill in the
region has now soared to £1,273 a year.
One in five families is now estimated to live in fuel poverty and according to Age
Concern, there are more winter-related deaths in Britain than in colder countries
including Finland‚ Denmark and Austria.
The Conservatives have launched a series of proposals to tackle fuel poverty, which would:
* Cut the fuel bills of the poorest households by introducing tough new rules that make it
illegal for energy companies to charge over the odds on pre-payment meters.
* Oblige every energy company to offer 'social' tariffs to vulnerable households.
* Make energy companies provide information on energy bills that shows customers whether
they are on the cheapest tariff available - and, if they are not, makes clear how much
they would save if they switched to the cheapest tariff.
* Reform Post Office Card Accounts so that people can pay their utility bills through
direct debit style payments, cutting the energy bills of up to four million people without
bank accounts by £100 a year.
Mr Ivory said, "With gas and electricity bills at record highs, people across Norfolk
face their toughest winter for years. Without immediate help, many will have to choose
between staying warm and going into debt."
"It is completely unacceptable that the most vulnerable people on pre-payment meters
should be targeted by the energy companies to pay more than their fair share. That should
be banned at once and all customers should have the right to be told what the cheapest
tariff is - instead of paying more because they are baffled by the complexity of what
energy companies offer."
"The Government must end its dithering and act immediately to save the poorest from
spending this winter worrying whether they can afford to keep warm."
At the same time, Mr Ivory has launched a campaign against Atlantic Electric and Gas whose
customers received a letter in October and November telling them that prices were
increasing prices from 25 August.
"I have been contacted by a number of local people who are customers of Atlantic and
they are all very angry at this retrospective price rise. I have spoken to the company and
demanded an assurance that they will not be changing any of their customers the higher
prices until they knew about them. If I do not get a satisfactory response I shall raise
the matter with the Regulator."
Trevor Ivory, Parliamentary Spokesman for North Norfolk
GOODBYE CAROLINE!
SHERINGHAM AND CROMER CHORAL SOCIETY
CHRISTMAS CONCERT
CROMER PARISH CHURCH
SATURDAY 13 DECEMBER 7.30pm
Finzi In Terra Pax
Hoist Christmas Day
Seasonal Carols
Conductor: David McKee
Tickets £10 (under 18's free)
available from K Hardware, Cromer and
Bertram Watts Bookshop, Sheringham
www.sheringhamcromerchoral.co.uk |
GREENS TO MARCH TO PARLIAMENT TO CALL FOR
URGENT ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE - AND TO RESHAPE UK ECONOMY
Green Party Members from Eastern Region and across the country will join thousands of
campaigners in London this Saturday (6 December) marching to Parliament to urge the
Government to match its rhetoric on climate change with credible action. The
National March against Climate Change, organised by the Campaign Against Climate Change,
will gather at 12 noon at Grosvenor Square as thousands of people in more than 70
countries hold similar events around the world. To mark the Global Day of Action on
Climate Change, UK demonstrators will demand that the Government withdraws its plans for
more runways at Stansted and Heathrow, ditches its plans for new coal-fired power
stations, and halts further expansion of agrofuels. Instead, the protest will call
for a Green New Deal - an innovative package of economic policies co-authored by Green MEP
Dr. Caroline Lucas, the Leader of the Green Party. The Green New Deal would spark a
revolution in energy efficiency and renewable energy, and create hundreds of thousands of
green jobs in a time of recession (1).
Dr Lucas MEP commented:
"Climate change is happening even faster than the latest IPCC report predicted, and
requires urgent and radical action at government level. UK ministers must be held to
account for failing to match their green rhetoric with effective policies to secure
environmental and economic sustainability. Just this week, the UK's climate watchdog
called for dramatic cuts in carbon emissions to stave off the worst of what Lord Turner
called 'a grave threat to human welfare, the environment and the economy'. In his
Pre Budget Report, Alistair Darling threw away an historic opportunity to launch a clean
energy revolution that would lead to hundreds of thousands of new green collar jobs in
renewable energy and energy efficiency, cutting energy bills and delivering long-overdue
improvements to the UK's infrastructure. As critical UN climate talks get underway
in Poznan, we stand in solidarity with the world's poorest and most vulnerable communities
that suffer the worst effects of climate change, and demand that our politicians push hard
for a tough and binding international climate agreement."
Cllr. James Abbott, Eastern Region European Election candidate and the Green Party
national Climate Change Spokesperson said
"The economic and climate change crises are hugely challenging. But the UK can help
address both by acting ambitiously to create a green economy. Unfortunately, the
Government seems totally incapable of the joined up thinking that is needed. Labour
appears hell-bent on expanding UK airports, building more coal fired power stations and
incinerators and committing the UK to another round of import based boom and bust
economics. Its the tired old mix of an over-exploitative, speculative fossil fuel-based
economy. Labour is giving us the worst sort of medicine - it will not solve the economic
crisis, but will make climate change worse and further damage the quality of life.
It is no surprise that UK carbon dioxide emissions have not fallen since 1997 under
Labour. Unless the Government fiddles the figures, there is no way it can deliver the
carbon cuts it has pledged in the Climate Change Act - steady progress aiming for an 80%
cut by 2050 (2)." Also on December 6th, Prospective Green MEP for Eastern
Region, Cllr. Rupert Read, will join a protest against the proposed destruction of Bintree
Woods in Norfolk through the development of gravel workings and waste landfill. The
protest is timed to coincide with the Center for International Forestry Research’s
second World Forest Day in Poznan, Poland, which will bring together policy makers and
agenda setters to draw attention to the links between forest-destruction and dangerous
climate change.
Dr. Read said:
"Bintree Woods must be saved for us and our children and their children to enjoy. The
Green Party is 100% committed to conserving our countryside, rather than consuming and
destroying it. At the same time, people all around the world are walking in defence of
similar woods and forests, which are our great joy and one of our greatest defences
against the threat of climate catastrophe." |
