Number in Fuel Poverty Set to Rise

Latest fuel poverty statistics from the government suggest that more of us are likely to struggle to pay our energy bills in the future. Fuel poverty, which is when a household has to spend more than 10% of its income on fuel bills in order to keep their house warm, fell in England during 2010 from 4 million people to 3.5 million. This is thought to be due to a combination of rising incomes, improvements in the energy efficiency of homes and few changes in domestic energy prices between 2009 and 2010. Many of these factors have since changed and fuel poverty is expected to increase to 3.9 million in 2012. Domestic energy prices increased in late 2011 and some government subsidises for energy efficiency are due to be scrapped at the end of 2012.