Desperation behind sharp rise in energy theft, says fuel charity

Mr Scorer said as energy prices went “through the roof” and the cost-of-living crisis squeezed household budgets, families were pushed into fuel poverty.

National Energy Action defines fuel poverty as spending 10% of your income to be able to afford a reasonable level of warmth.

Before the energy crisis the charity estimated four million households were in fuel poverty. Now it believes that number is around 5.6 million households.

Mum-of-four Sam Holland, 41, said she currently lives on £140 a week while she is not working due to disabilities.

“If I was to get into any debt with energy it would scare me,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Stealing Power documentary.

“I don’t have the heating on at all hardly at home. I walk around with my dressing gown on if it’s cold,” she said.

She said she goes to the Intact Centre in Preston, part of the Warm Space programme, with her two younger children four times a week.

National Energy Action is concerned about further pressure on households following Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s announcement that around 10 million pensioners in England and Wales will stop getting winter fuel payments. The money will no longer go to all pensioners – only those who get pension credit or other means-tested benefits.

“It will leave many pensioners who need support without it. One third of fuel-poor households do not receive benefits. They should not be forgotten,” said Matt Copeland, head of policy at National Energy Action.