Fuel Poverty Action Group campaigns outside EDF Energy headquarters to highlight awareness of the 25,700 excess winter deaths in the UK in 2010-11
Pensioner Linda Powell is sat shivering on a London street, her teeth chattering beneath blue lips as she uses a cardigan to keep warm. Fortunately for Powell she is only pretending to be a victim of fuel poverty ? she is taking part in an organised "die-in" outside the headquarters of EDF Energy overlooking Green Park, London.
With other members of the Fuel Poverty Action Group, Powell ? her face painted a deathly white and her lips a vivid azure ? is pretending to freeze in protest at the number of excess winter deaths that occur in the UK each year. According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) there were 25,700 deaths of this type in 2010-11.
The latest ONS data compares the number of deaths that occurred from December 2010-March 2011 with the average number of deaths that happened in the preceding August to November and the following April to July. It shows there was a 17% rise in deaths over winter compared with the non-winter periods ? a figure almost unchanged on the previous year.
Nevertheless Powell, 61, thinks the situation is a disgrace: "I've just become a pensioner and I've received my winter fuel allowance of �200, down from �250 thanks to the government. I am having to hold back on putting my central heating on, and do everything to cut back. I have to turn off the heating when I go out, and I only heat one room. I'm just about keeping going, to be honest."
The fuel poverty campaigners walked a wooden coffin, with the number of winter deaths in 2010-11 scrawled on it, from Parliament Square to Grosvenor Place to highlight the issue.
Ruth, a Londoner in her 60s, was among them: "I'm here on behalf of older people who have worked all their lives and now can't afford to heat their homes. For us it is the choice between eating or heating, which is no choice at all because the better you eat, the more chance you will remain healthy.
"I know so many people who had pneumonia last year; I know people who had to live in one room last winter, getting colder and colder because they cannot move too well. I also know people who are having to ride buses all night to keep warm. It's no life."
The National Energy Action (NEA) charity said about 10% of the 25,700 figure could be directly attributed to fuel poverty, and warned that a combination of high energy prices, low incomes and poor heating and insulation standards will continue to pose a serious threat to the health of millions of people, especially pensioners, during the coming months.
Households are considered fuel poor if they need to spend more than 10% of their income on fuel use to heat a home to an adequate standard of warmth, generally defined as 21C in the living room and 18C in other occupied rooms.
Jenny Saunders, chief executive at NEA, said: "This number of excess winter deaths was sadly expected. The figures emphasise that fuel poverty is killing our most vulnerable citizens. Last December was the coldest on record and the spells of severe weather combined with high energy prices had a devastating effect."
She called on the government to do more to tackle the issue. "They need to ensure that their upcoming energy efficiency programme, the Green Deal, fully delivers where it is needed most, improving the comfort levels of homes and providing affordable warmth to vulnerable households."
Many people at the "die-in" demo were climate change campaigners eager to highlight a fossil fuel-related issue. Samia Mitchell, a member of the Fuel Poverty Action Group, said: "Government and business are putting profits first and people's lives second in deciding who gets to keep warm this winter.
"By continuing to support unsustainable fossil fuels over sustainable renewables, cutting the winter fuel payment and shutting day centres, libraries, axing jobs and public services, millions are literally being left out in the cold."
In a statement, EDF Energy said: "We respect the rights of individuals to peaceful protest. EDF Energy is committed to ensuring all of our customers get a fair deal over the winter period. So, going into the second successive winter, EDF Energy has the cheapest standard dual fuel prices of all the major energy suppliers, meaning a fairer deal for all of our customers."
Protester Ruth isn't convinced. As she picked herself off the floor and headed to a nearby cafe for a well-earned cup of tea she said: "It's not just the cold that's killing us, it's the profiteer energy companies."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/nov/22/fuel-poverty-protestors-die-in-winter-deaths
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