An extra 300,000 British households are struggling to keep warm this winter after major energy suppliers squeezed by higher costs raised energy prices, a government advisory group reported on Monday.
The country’s major energy suppliers boosted prices citing higher commodity prices, government-imposed social programmes and transmission costs.
“The latest round of energy price rises has increased the average annual energy bill by around 7 percent to 1,247 pounds for direct debit customers.
“This increase is likely to have pushed a further 300,000 households into fuel poverty,” said the government’s Fuel Poverty Advisory Group in its annual report.
A household slips into fuel poverty when it pays more than 10 percent of its income on resources for adequate heating.
Around a quarter of Britain’s households, or over 6.5 million, are now considered fuel poor.