A quarter of all households in England and Wales have now fallen into fuel poverty following an autumn of steep increases in energy bills and stagnating incomes, according to a report by The Guardian. This is up from nearly one in five households in 2010. This is despite the government’s statutory obligation to eliminate fuel poverty by 2016.

Previous government projections forecast that this year would see 4.1m households in fuel poverty. But these estimates were calculated before the huge price rises announced last summer by the big six energy suppliers. New calculations, provided to the statutory consumer body Consumer Focus and based on actual bills, show the figure for England alone is now over 5m households.

The full report is available on The Guardian website.