Millions of households face fuel poverty in 2020

Friday, 18 December 2009 12:00

Soaring energy bills over the next decade could leave four million UK households in fuel poverty, a consumer report has warned.

A poorly insulated home could see gas and electric bills rise by over a third by 2020, with the average energy bill for a three-bedroom house costing £2,600 in ten years time, said Which?.

The consumer group also revealed a family living in a detached house could be faced with a bill of almost £4,000 by the end of the next decade.

Martyn Hocking, editor ofWhich?, called on the government to take urgent action to stop bills spiralling out of control and to help people make their homes more energy efficient.

"Otherwise," he said, "millions of people will be faced with crippling energy bills in the future."

Domestic energy bills are becoming more expensive because of rising wholesale prices, a growing dependence of imported energy and investment in capacity and renewable energy.

Meanwhile, 73 per cent of people said they worried about being able to afford increasing prices.

Mr Hocking added: "Energy is going to get more expensive over the next decade so the only way to avoid bigger bills is to use less of it."

• Tags:
• energy efficiency
,
• household
,
• news