‘Sometimes dinner is just biscuits’: Elderly people choose between heating and eating as bills surge by £830

Half a million more pensioners to be plunged into fuel poverty this winter as energy bills jump again

In October energy bills will eat up 22 per cent of the income of pensioners living alone, after housing costs (PA)

Vulnerable elderly people face choosing between “crushing levels of debt” or living in cold homes that put them at risk of worsening health conditions, as average energy bills look set to surge by more than £800 this winter.

That is the warning from fuel poverty campaigners as figures revealed that single pensioners would be forced to spend more than a fifth of their income after housing costs on gas and electricity.

It comes after Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley told MPs the regulator is expecting the energy price cap to increase by a further £830 to £2,800 in October.