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Fuel poverty reached 5.5 million households in 2009 Fuel poverty affects one in five households
(40 minutes later)
The number of UK households in fuel poverty rose by one million in 2009 to 5.5 million, government figures show. More than a fifth of all households in the UK were affected by fuel poverty in 2009, the latest government figures have shown.
Figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) predict that the numbers for 2010 and 2011 will rise because of continuing increases in the price of energy. Figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) show a big jump in the number of homes burdened by high fuel bills.
They went up by one million in 2009 to 5.5 million - a 22% rise.
A household is described as being in fuel poverty when it has to spend more than 10% of its income keeping warm.A household is described as being in fuel poverty when it has to spend more than 10% of its income keeping warm.
The DECC figures show that 21% of UK homes were in this position in 2009. DECC predict that the numbers for 2010 and 2011 will have risen because of continuing increases in the price of energy.
"Between 2004 and 2009, energy prices increased: domestic electricity prices increased by over 75%, while gas prices increased by over 122% over the same period," DECC said.
"This led to the rise in fuel poverty seen over this period," it added.
Before 2004, the problem had been in decline, with fuel poverty across the UK dropping from 6.5 million homes in 1996 to just under 2 million in 2003.
This had been driven by the combined effect of rising incomes and falling energy prices.
Despite increased effort and money being put into insulating homes to make them more energy efficient, DECC admitted that the benefit of these initiatives was being swamped by the effect of fuel prices which have been rising steeply.
"The overall effect of price rises since 2004 has far outweighed the impact of increasing incomes and energy efficiency," DECC said.
Most of the fuel-poor homes were "vulnerable", defined by the government as ones containing the elderly, children, or someone who is disabled or suffering from a long-term illness.