At Least Five Million in UK Suffer 'fuel poverty'

by Rob Walker | October 2, 2008 at 11:37 am

60 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

A British energy watchdog has released a new report showing that at least 5 million homes in the UK are living in fuel poverty - that is they spend more than 10% of their income on fuel.

This number is up a full million from last year's numbers.

At least 2.75 million of those homes are classed as 'vulnerable', which means the household contains a child, elderly person or someone with a long-term illness.

Fuel poverty is defined as households who spend more than 10% of their income on fuel.
The Unite union said thousands more people are likely to suffer from fuel poverty this winter.

But energy watchdog Consumer Focus says the number of homes currently in fuel poverty is as high as five million.