Additional £13million to tackle fuel poverty

Welsh Labour’s Environment Minister, John Griffiths has announced an additional £13m to help keep Welsh homes warm.

The money will be divided between the Welsh Labour Government’s two flagship fuel poverty schemes, Nest and Arbed, both of which target investment at those people most in need of help. The Minister has confirmed that that the draft Welsh budget for 2013-14 includes an additional £10m for improving domestic energy and that £5m additional capital would be used in both 2013-14 and 2014-15 for the Nest and Arbed schemes. He said the money would improve the energy efficiency of 1,600 Welsh homes.

Latest figures show that since April 2011 Nest has provided advice and support to over 15,000 households to help them reduce their bills and has funded energy saving improvement in around 5,600 homes. These improvement packages have resulted in an average saving of £500 per household.

The Welsh Government’s strategic energy scheme Arbed helped to make 6,000 homes in some of Wales poorest areas more energy efficient in its first phase. The scheme is are now moving into its second phase and is expected to benefit a further 5,000 homes plus by 2016.