COUNCIL MUST NOT CUT CORNERS ON FUEL EFFICIENCY FOR PENSIONERS

5.18.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 29th Sep 2008

Local MP, Lorely Burt will ask Council bosses not to scrimp on fuel efficiency measures for borough pensioners after hearing of the concerns of one pensioner who says she will not be able to afford hot water and heating for her home this winter.

Ivy Howells of Lodge Road in Knowle lives in a one-bedroomed bungalow and had work carried out this summer under the government's Decent Homes programme.

She had radiators and pipes replaced, but was left with the same gas boiler that heats a cast iron tank for hot water. She also has an electric shower and runs an electric fire.

She told Lorely that since the latest gas and electricity price rises her monthly fuel bill will go up from £77 to £114, which she cannot afford to pay.

Mrs Howells claims were backed up by a heating contractor who said that old boilers and tanks should be replaced by condensing combination boilers that heat water instantly under the Decent Homes scheme.

Lorely said:

"I will be contacting council officers to stress that cutting corners over fuel efficiency really doesn't result in value for money and worse still, it leaves pensioners like Mrs Howells unable to heat their homes after the latest hikes in fuel prices.

"Fuel efficiency must be top of the agenda for the council if we are to avoid any further rise in unnecessary winter deaths due to fuel poverty."

ENDS