Millions of households endured cold spells at some point during the winter to keep down their energy bills, with some residents wearing hats and scarves indoors instead of putting on the heating, it has been claimed.
The recent round of price cuts by energy providers, which started in January, has not convinced consumers that their bills will go down, according to a survey by comparison website uSwitch, and householders have been rationing their energy use to cut costs.
In a survey of 1,000 consumers published on Tuesday, 54% said they had “gone cold at home this winter” due to the cost of gas and electricity, and a quarter of those questioned said they had gone without heating to keep costs down.
The website said if this was reflected across the country it would mean more than 6 million households had turned off their heating to save money. More than a third said they thought the cutbacks they had made had affected their quality of life or health.
Consumers were also asked what they had done to keep warm. Four in 10 said they had left their oven door open after cooking to warm their home; 24% had worn a coat, hat or scarf indoors; 12% had gone to visit family or friends; and 7% had gone to public places like libraries and coffee shops.
Uswitch said typically households would pay £1,242 on energy this year – £705 more than a decade ago. The major energy providers have announced price cuts since the start of the year, but half of those surveyed did not think these would have an impact on their bill.
Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com, said: “It’s all very well for some suppliers to cut prices when spring kicks in, but millions of consumers were left out in the cold this winter. It is now high time for proper, double-digit reductions to be passed on to hard-pressed customers, many of whom have gone cold because they can’t afford to keep the heating on.”
The debt charity StepChange said it had seen the number of people struggling to pay their energy bills soar in recent years. In 2014, 23,355 clients were in arrears on their gas bills, while 36,853 were behind on electricity payments.
The proportion of clients in arrears on gas rose by 6.9% in 2010 to 13.6% in 2014, and over the same period the average debt increased from £403 to £541. The proportion of customers struggling with electricity bills rose at a similar pace, while the typical debt went up from £452 to £594.
“Many households remain under severe strain with traditional debts such as those on credit cards and personal loans remaining high, but we are seeing a more recent phenomenon of people falling behind on essential household bills,” said StepChange’s chief executive, Mike O’Connor.
