Energy Policy and Consumer Hardship

84 Table 12: Age Group and the Effects of Fuel Poverty 92 About the Renewable Energy Foundation The Renewable Energy Foundation is a registered charity promoting sustainable development for the benefit of the public by means of energy conservation and the use of renewable energy. [...] Given the scale of the burdens, there is reason to be concerned that the direct, indirect and general economic effects of current energy policies will significantly increase the risk of energy related hard- ship over the entire population, leading to a significant but intrinsically unpredictable rise in the numbers of households experiencing actual hardship. [...] By contrast, they will give approximate indications of the magnitude of the effects through such indicators as estimated bill increases, the identification of types of households that may bear a disproportionate share of these increases, and the likely effect on the proportion of GDP spent on energy. [...] Risk of energy hardship and cases of actual energy hardship result from the relationship between incomes and energy prices, and fluctuations in risk of hardship in the short term are attributable to fluctuations in these variables. [...] The accuracy of the empirical part of our earlier calculations was confirmed in a recent Parlia- mentary answer, when Lord Marland, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Depart- ment of Energy and Climate Change, revealed that the department estimated the cost of the Renewables Obligation between April 2002 and March 2011 to be approximately £7.3bn.21 3.2.5.