Charities fear a health crisis is imminent, as a poll for comparison website Comparethemarket found 20 per cent of elderly people are eating less to offset high energy bills.
About 20 per cent of respondents, (the equivalent to around two million pensioners), said they were on standard variable tariffs (SVTs) rather than fixed-rate tariffs. The survey also found people aged 65-plus who changed supplier in December saved an average of £200.
Energy bills increased by an average of 14 per cent last year, with customers on SVTs paying the most. Over a million told the poll they will struggle to pay their bills this winter, and 1.3 million (11 per cent) said they could not afford any increase.
Twelve per cent said their health had already suffered because they limit the amount of heating they use, and more than a third (38 per cent) ration their energy because of the cost, according to the poll of 2,000 respondents aged 65 or over.
Dawn Stobart, director of external affairs at Christians Against Poverty (CAP), a debt management charity, said “At CAP we hear hundreds of stories of clients struggling to afford their energy bills, cutting down their usage or even self-disconnecting in order to save costs.
This is particularly alarming for our elderly clients, who are often less active and spend more time in their homes. CAP client, Christine (67), told us about her worst winter where her house got so cold the water in her toilet froze. There are schemes and tariffs available to people who are unable to afford their energy bills and it is really important that these people, particularly the elderly, are able to access this help.”
The Age UK website states one older person dies from the cold every seven minutes during the winter.
Elsewhere, Ofgem said this month that an energy price cap could be implemented by next Christmas, but 56 per cent of respondents said they do not believe this will reduce their bills. There were fears the cap would be set too high, or that suppliers would make up the reduction in their profits through hidden charges.
Dermot Nolan, chief executive of Ofgem, told a parliamentary select committee this month he accepted the regulator “should have done better with vulnerable customers”.