Skyrocketing Fuel Prices in England: Queen Elizabeth Nearing “Fuel Poverty”
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on October 23, 2011
Queen Elizabeth II and husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, are suffering from the UK's rising fuel prices
You know that the escalation in fuel prices in the United Kingdom is dismal when even royalty is being impacted. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is dangerously close to joining millions of other commoners there in what is termed “fuel poverty.”
It’s been estimated that about 4 million British households are suffering from fuel poverty, in which the costs of keeping warm eats up 10 per cent or more of a household’s income. Fuel poverty is linked to thousands of deaths each year in the UK.
From My Finances, The Queen is just one big price rise away from fuel poverty:
Her Majesty, The Queen is close to joining millions of her subjects in becoming a victim of fuel poverty.
The Queen has to heat four palaces and one castle and at a time when energy bills have risen by around 15 per cent but the Queen’s income has been frozen by the government.
A household is classified as being in fuel poverty when a homeowner has to spend ten per cent of their income to keep their home acceptably warm.
According to extracts from the Royal accounts, the Queen’s electricity and gas bills in 2010-11 were £2.2 million, which represents 6.9 per cent of her total income from the government.
The Queen’s income has been frozen since this time whilst average bills have been rising by double digits for both gas and electricity. This, if fuel was being used at the same rate, means the annual bill would rise to £2.6 million or 8.2 per cent of the Royal household income.
This would mean just one more double-digit price rise for gas and electricity would take the Queen into fuel poverty territory.
This would mean just one more double-digit price rise for gas and electricity would take the Queen into fuel poverty territory.
It is thought that the Queen is aware of the rising cost of energy in her households and takes a personal interest in keeping these costs down. It has been reported that there are signs within Buckingham Palace that warn about fuel economy and encourage staff and household members to turn the lights out when they leave rooms.
The Queen has to heat 160,000 square metres across her five residences. The Queen has installed smart meters in all five of her homes as she struggles to keep the bills down. It is believed that the introduction of these meters helped the Royal household reduce their fuel bills by more than ten per cent.
Buckingham Palace in London, one of the royal homes Queen Elizabeth must heat - the palace became the principal royal residence in 1837 and uses an old heating system that is inefficient
From Financial Times, Soaring prices push Queen close to ‘fuel poverty’:
The Queen is coming perilously close to joining millions of her subjects in “fuel poverty” as energy bills for four palaces and a draughty castle absorb a rising share of her income.
About 4m households in England have fallen into fuel poverty, a situation in which a homeowner must spend 10 per cent of their annual income to keep their abode acceptably warm.
The royal household is aware of its predicament. Signs in Buckingham Palace headlined FUEL ECONOMY sternly warn: “The attention is drawn of all members of staff to the need to switch off unwanted lights. By Order of The Master of The Household.”
The Queen herself prowls the corridors, switching off superfluous lights, a Buckingham Palace employee said.
Royal accounts show the Queen’s electricity and gas bill was £2.2m in 2010-11, or 6.9 per cent of the monarchy’s total income from the government.
The Queen’s government has since frozen her income, while average energy bills have risen 20 per cent.
From 4RFV, Fuel Poverty Leads To 3,000 Deaths:
A Government report has found that almost 3,000 people die each year in England and Wales because of fuel poverty.
The news comes as fuel prices come under continuing scrutiny following an Ofgem report on Monday and the revelation that their relative increase since last year prompted a jump in inflation.
The report by Professor John Hills said that if only a tenth of “excess winter deaths” were due to fuel poverty, that meant 2,700 people were dying each year in England and Wales because of it.
Professor Hills has reported that households in or on the margins of poverty faced extra costs to keep warm as those in poorer housing paid more for inefficient heating systems and less insulated homes.
From Daily Mail, Prince Charles’s secret plan to ‘move out of Buckingham Palace and turn it into a museum’ once he becomes King:
Prince Charles has secret plans to move the Royal family out of Buckingham Palace and transform it into a museum once he becomes king, it has been claimed.
According to reports, the prince has a deep-seated desire to put his stamp on the monarchy with a ‘detailed plan for a first year of change under King Charles III’.
Proposals are said to include moving the royal court from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle, as Charles moves to rebrand the institution of the monarchy.
Andrew Marr, the broadcaster, is set to make the revelations in a new book about the Queen to be published this week, the Sunday Times reported.
According to the paper, Mr Marr writes in The Diamond Queen, his new book, of how Prince Charles has already distanced himself from the Queen’s court in the capital.
‘His succession would be followed by a dramatic clearing out of the current Buckingham Palace staff and the arrival of his own team,’ Mr Marr writes.
‘One of the more dramatic ideas that has been discussed is for the Royal family to leave Buckingham Palace entirely, leaving it as a kind of grand official government hotel and centre for events.
‘The king would base himself not in London but at Windsor Castle.’
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