Blair's Carbon Audit
Blair’s carbon audits must be carried out & this Government must be held to it. Do not let them renege on this pledge. Why ? ….well just think about the extra info it will generate. Millions of households will get great readings…..but why ? Could it be that where the box on the form asks you how many hours do you use your cooker/heating/washing machine/hot water etc that hundreds of thousands of households will be shown like me , not to have these appliances at all. No cooker. No washing machine. No heating. Well I have a hot water tank but I can’t afford to switch it on every day so only put it on twice a month for an hour or so, otherwise I just use the shower or kettle. I only have 5 light bulbs. Not by choice but by cost.
I can still only buy £6 of electricity/fortnight March-Oct & £10 /fortnight over winter (Nov-Feb). As costs go up astronomically, my benefit doesn’t rise by anything like the utility unit costs. So my £6 or £10 just gives me so many fewer units of power each year. I’m not going to use a low energy light bulb in the room I live in for 95% of the time because I rely on the heat my uplighter bulb produces to take the chill off the room along with the heat from the tv.
This Carbon Audit would have a fantastic social impact…..the massive extent of relative poverty could properly be exposed for once. People are already severely struggling to pay for electricity and yet many don’t even have basic appliances.
Why don’t newspapers & media when going on about electricity prices do a proper comparison of how much it costs year on year to use one single unit of electricity.
I.e. ½ an hour of ironing cost “x” amount 10years ago and now costs “z” amount.(I believe that amount of iron usage is about one unit as is boiling about 12pints of water)
Because it’s that detail of usage cost that really hits low income people. Regardless of whether Iow income people have the luxury of heating. Let’s get down to the real basics. In percentage terms, comparing a person on higher rate(long term) incapacity benefit level of income support (approx £80/wk after rent but before bills) with someone on the national average wage of something like 24k would give a real indication of the relative cost of simply making a cup of tea or a hot meal. It would really show the long-term hardship that pensioners and the long-term chronically ill endure. I think there’s a huge need for a winter fuel allowance to be paid not only to pensioners but to the long-term sick & disabled. I cannot use less electricity than I use now. I cannot use less water than I use now. My quality of life cannot sink much lower.
I do not feel valued or trusted by my Government, I do not feel welcome in my own country. Yet I am white intelligent, have had a great private education & traditional middle class values. If I was fit and healthy I would leave……..
I can still only buy £6 of electricity/fortnight March-Oct & £10 /fortnight over winter (Nov-Feb). As costs go up astronomically, my benefit doesn’t rise by anything like the utility unit costs. So my £6 or £10 just gives me so many fewer units of power each year. I’m not going to use a low energy light bulb in the room I live in for 95% of the time because I rely on the heat my uplighter bulb produces to take the chill off the room along with the heat from the tv.
This Carbon Audit would have a fantastic social impact…..the massive extent of relative poverty could properly be exposed for once. People are already severely struggling to pay for electricity and yet many don’t even have basic appliances.
Why don’t newspapers & media when going on about electricity prices do a proper comparison of how much it costs year on year to use one single unit of electricity.
I.e. ½ an hour of ironing cost “x” amount 10years ago and now costs “z” amount.(I believe that amount of iron usage is about one unit as is boiling about 12pints of water)
Because it’s that detail of usage cost that really hits low income people. Regardless of whether Iow income people have the luxury of heating. Let’s get down to the real basics. In percentage terms, comparing a person on higher rate(long term) incapacity benefit level of income support (approx £80/wk after rent but before bills) with someone on the national average wage of something like 24k would give a real indication of the relative cost of simply making a cup of tea or a hot meal. It would really show the long-term hardship that pensioners and the long-term chronically ill endure. I think there’s a huge need for a winter fuel allowance to be paid not only to pensioners but to the long-term sick & disabled. I cannot use less electricity than I use now. I cannot use less water than I use now. My quality of life cannot sink much lower.
I do not feel valued or trusted by my Government, I do not feel welcome in my own country. Yet I am white intelligent, have had a great private education & traditional middle class values. If I was fit and healthy I would leave……..
posted by Dyke_Dilemmas at 10:10 am
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