Third of households in the Capital 'facing fuel poverty'

NEARLY one in three Edinburgh households will be left in so-called "fuel poverty" over the winter, a charity claimed today.

Environment charity Changeworks has produced new research which predicts that 63,000 of the city's households will struggle to heat their homes as a result of rocketing energy prices, double the 2006 figure.

The Scottish Government's definition of fuel poverty is when a household has to spend more than ten per cent of its income on fuel to maintain a "satisfactory heating regime".

Changeworks has calculated that every one per cent increase in fuel bills plunges another 583 Edinburgh households into fuel poverty.

The average combined gas and electricity price of one major supplier has risen by 53 per cent over the last two years, which would mean an extra 31,000 homes would be affected.

In 2006, before the rise in fuel prices, there were 32,000 Edinburgh households in fuel poverty.

The latest forecast comes after official statistics showed the number of households across Scotland struggling to pay for heating rose by 26,000 last year.

The Scottish House Condition Survey said a total of 569,000 Scots households were estimated to be in fuel poverty in 2007, with 163,000, seven per cent of Scots households, deemed to be in extreme fuel poverty.

Graeme Brown, director of housing charity Shelter Scotland, said the figures were a "wake-up call" to how far-reaching the housing crisis was.

He said: "This report shows that for many of our citizens, Victorian levels of housing hardship persist.

"It beggars belief that over half a million households face the indignity of fuel poverty."

Figures released by the Scottish Government in September predicted that around 12,000 Edinburgh families will not be able to keep up with the hikes in their energy bills and will be left in "extreme fuel poverty".

That is when the amount spent on fuel rises to more than 20 per cent of a household's income.

Stuart Duncan, senior project officer of Changeworks, said: "This winter, one in three Edinburgh households are going to be hard hit by the recent fuel price rises.

"In many areas, people will struggle either to heat their homes adequately or pay their bills.

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A spokesman for Help the Aged said some older people were living in one room because they could not afford to heat the rest of the house or they were spending a large part of the day in libraries or shopping centres to keep warm.

Changeworks is encouraging residents living in flats to come and find out what can be done to reduce their fuel bills at a free advice meeting at the Eric Liddell Centre, Morningside Road, on Monday from 6.30pm.