FIVE neighbourhoods in York are set to be the worst affected by the energy crisis, analysis suggests.
A study by climate charity Friends of the Earth has found that five of York’s 120 neighbourhoods will be among the 9,000 across England and Wales at the greatest risk of financial hardship when the energy price cap rises in October.
The York neighbourhoods found to be at the greatest risk are: York Road through to Ostman Road in Acomb, where just 37 per cent of properties are well insulated, according to FOE.
From Clarence street, over Gillygate and Bootham, through to Coney Street and Marygate, where only 47 per cent of homes are well insulated.
Along Malton Road through to Heworth Golf course, where 41 per cent of homes were insulated well, and from the Huntington Ring Road to Haxby Road, where 55 per cent of homes were well insulated.
In these neighbourhoods, 470 homes require cavity wall insulation and 670 need a loft conversion.
The charity analysed smart meters and unmetered fuel consumption to identify the areas where energy use is higher than normal.
They defined these neighbourhoods as 'energy crisis hotspots', meaning they have above average costs and lower than average household incomes.
York had one of the lowest proportion of these hotspot neighbourhoods, making up four per cent of the worst impacted across the country.
However, Rachael Maskell, Labour MP for York Central, told The Press that 2,500 council homes in the city are currently below an EPC C rating, making them the most expensive to heat.
Ms Maskell said: "The failure to invest in bringing York’s housing stock up to the acceptable energy efficiency standard has been a choice of this Council administration’s making.
"When there is such need to ensure that people are living in warm homes, to reduce energy use and to cut household bills, it is quite staggering that the leaders at the Council have failed to get to grips with the dual energy and climate crisis, not least when Government have lifted the cap on the Housing Revenue Account to pay for this.
"Labour has committed to retrofit the 19 million homes across the country which are in need of greater insulation measures.
"People need help now, as this is going to be a financially challenging winter. I will be pushing Government to go further in protecting households from excessive energy costs when Parliament returns.”
City of York council says it is working to better identify which residents are at risk of fuel poverty to help shape a longer term programme of insulation and efficiency upgrades to council housing.
Michael Jones, Head of Housing Delivery and Asset Management at City of York council said: “With winter fast approaching, and the cost of household bills increasing, we know many households in York will be facing a challenging time.
“To help households who might be struggling we’re working with E.ON to deliver more than £2m of energy efficiency measures to homeowners and tenants who rent from a private landlord as part of the Greener Homes Funding.
“To be eligible households need to have an income of less than £30,000 and have an EPC rating of D, E or G. Grants of up to £10,000 can cover a variety of installations including insulation, air source heat pumps and solar panels.
“As part of the scheme we can also offer external wall insulation, including for terraced houses, many of which have previously been considered too difficult to improve.
“You can find more information at www.york.gov.uk/GreenHomesFunding.”
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