Number of homes becoming warmer and cheaper to heat drops by more than two-thirds, official figures say

The annual number of households benefiting from cavity wall insulation and loft insulation dropped by 67 per cent during the last Parliament

A report concludes that more than two million households are struggling to keep warm as many people choose “eating over heating” (Getty)

The number of homes becoming warmer and cheaper to heat dropped by more than two-thirds during the last Parliament, according to official figures. The annual number of households benefiting from cavity wall insulation and loft insulation – which can save £160 and £140 each on annual bills - fell from 2.1 million in 2009/10, to just 700,000 in 2013/14 – a drop of 67 per cent.

Caroline Flint, Labour’s shadow energy and climate change secretary, who uncovered the figures, warned: “Britain is facing an energy bill crisis, with millions of people struggling to heat their homes. David Cameron has left hundreds of thousands of families in the cold, with massive cuts under this Government to the number of households getting help with insulation.”

The coalition government introduced the Green Deal and the Energy Company Obligation at the beginning of 2013, replacing energy efficiency schemes run under the previous Labour government, including the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target and the Community Energy Saving Programme.

“Labour has a better plan to freeze energy bills, reform the energy market and upgrade the energy efficiency of at least five million homes over 10 years, saving households over £270 on average,” claimed Ms Flint.

The news follows shock new figures published last week that revealed that almost 15,000 people died last winter through living in cold homes that they couldn’t afford to heat.

The research from the Energy Bill Revolution showed the number of excess winter deaths surged last winter to 49,260, of which around 14,780 were due to people living in cold homes.

Meanwhile research published last month that revealed that some 14.3 million households turned off heating at some point last winter to cut energy bills.

Some two-fifths of consumers said they left their oven door open after cooking and a quarter wore a coat, scarf or hat indoors to keep warm rather than turning on their heating, according to the uSwitch survey.

Ann Robinson of uSwitch, said: “It’s unacceptable that people should feel forced to gamble with their health to try and cope with sky-high energy bills.”