“People are scared about how they’ll get through the winter” as more than 40,000 Barnsley and Rotherham residents already living in fuel poverty

Surging energy prices are expected to push 60 per cent of Yorkshire households into fuel poverty by January – adding to the cost-of-living crisis.

Fuel poverty is defined as having to spend over 10 per cent of net income on fuel.

This equates to 19 per cent of households in Barnsley – the highest in South Yorkshire – and 18 per cent in Rotherham are classed as “fuel poor”.

The UK’s energy regulator set the new price cap at £3,549 from October 1, marking an 80 per cent rise in the cost of energy.

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition say that the Government’s proposals to provide a £400 discount off energy bills from October for six months “will not lift any households out of fuel poverty, but will help offset current increases in energy bills and may prevent some households entering technical fuel poverty.”

They calculate that the average bill which was £1,277 in October 2021 will have increased by at least £1,871 by October 2022.

John Healey, Labour MP for Wentworth and Dearne, says he is concerned that the numbers of households in his constituency will have increased even more due to the cost of living crisis.

Mr Healey said: “Britain’s cost of living crisis is getting worse. People are scared about how they’ll get through the winter.

“These figures show that people across Barnsley and Rotherham were already struggling with the cost of energy bills before prices spiralled even further out of control. My concern is that in reality, two years on from the basis of these findings, the number of people facing fuel poverty is now even higher.

“We can’t continue making working people pay whatever the big energy companies demand. Labour would stop the price cap going up. That would save households £1,000 this winter. And we would invest in sustainable, home-grown energy to bring bills down in the long-term.”