Millions of pensioners gripped by fuel poverty
Posted on January 23rd, 2012
A growing number of UK pensioners are falling into fuel poverty as a result of high gas and electricity prices, according to a new study from Age UK.
An ICM survey conducted on behalf of the charity found that nearly half of the 1,000 pensioners polled said they turned their heating down when not warm enough in an effort to save money.
The study also revealed that 2 million pensioners around the country are regularly going to bed when they are not tired just to keep warm.
Mervyn Kohler from Age UK was quoted in the Guardian as saying, ‘The figures are stark and show that people have been shaken rigid by the enormous rise in prices we saw in the second half of last year, and for individuals living on fairly straitened incomes, that hike in one of the two essential areas – the other being food – has really put the frighteners on our older population,’
She continued, ‘People who are cutting back on the amount of fuel they are using are jeopardising their health. They are going to end up exacerbating respiratory illnesses; they are going to end up isolating themselves in their own homes, feeling miserable sitting in a cold house without anyone coming round to see them. Because the house is too cold they get depressed.
‘In the end they are actually stoking up costs for one or another bit of our National Health Service as a result of starving themselves of fuel.’
The Age UK study found that 90% of the over-60s questioned were worried about the impact of higher energy bills, while 43% admitted to having turned their heating down when they were not warm enough.
Domestic fuel costs have risen by more than 100% since the beginning of the century, leaving many low-income households to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table. A recent round of price cuts of around 5% to electricity tariffs by the big six power firms did little to stem the rise of fuel poverty in the UK. A household is deemed to be in fuel poverty if it spends 10% or more of its income on energy bills.
Consumer Focus estimated that up to a quarter of all households in England and Wales had fallen into fuel poverty by the end of last year after a round of double-digit price increases in the run up to autumn.
The coalition has a legal duty to end fuel poverty by 2016.
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Tags: Fuel Poverty, Poverty
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