AROUND 217,000 homes in the South West are officially classed as being in fuel poverty, new statistics show.
More than one in 10 households are struggling with energy bills according to the latest figures.
The total figure for 2012 increased slightly from the 211,000 recorded in the region in 2011 according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
The regional trend bucked the national picture which showed the number of fuel poor families fell by almost 5 per cent in 2012 to 2.28 million households.
However, the figures are expected to rise again by 2014 to 2.33 million, largely due to increases in energy costs .
The gap between the fuel bills poor households face and what they can afford to pay was £444 in the South West – just £1 above the national average – but is expected to increase to £480 on average by 2014.
The latest figures from DECC prompted renewed calls for action to improve energy efficiency and bring down bills.
They come as the Big Six energy companies have been urged to explain to customers what impact falling wholesale energy prices will have on bills, with gas prices for next day delivery reaching their lowest level since September 2010 in early June.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director for Age UK, said: "Unfortunately, the statistics show that fuel poverty is still a huge problem.
"As an older people's charity we are particularly worried about the plight of nearly a million pensioners who can't afford to heat their homes properly, but they aren't alone – fuel poverty impacts on other households too, including families with children.
"In the long-term, the only sensible solution to fuel poverty is an ambitious energy efficiency programme to bring all our housing up to standard."
The Government has changed the measure for fuel poverty to take into account households with both high energy bills and low incomes.
Under the old measure, which included everybody who had to spend more than 10 per cent of their income to heat their homes properly, some 3.05 million English households were in fuel poverty in 2012, down on the 3.2 million homes in fuel poverty in 2011.
The Government has faced criticism for "shifting the goalposts" to bring down the number of households classed as in fuel poverty.
The report from DECC said the fall in the number of households in fuel poverty in 2012 was mainly due to increasing incomes for higher income fuel poor families.
Those living in private rented accommodation continued to have the highest rates of fuel poverty.
Across England, 10.4 per cent of homes were classed as fuel poor, while regionally the West Midlands had the highest levels of people struggling with bills, at 15 per cent. The lowest was the South East with 8 per cent.
Energy and climate change minister Greg Barker said: "I am encouraged by this further modest fall in the number of households living in fuel poverty.
"This welcome progress shows that while we can't control volatile energy prices we can continue to improve the energy efficiency of our housing stock.
"The Coalition Government is doing everything it can to help hard-pressed families keep their energy bills down."
He said energy efficiency programmes – the energy company obligation and the green deal – had supported more than 372,000 low income and vulnerable households.
And he said the warm home discount provided 1.2 million of the lowest income pensioners with £135 of their electricity bills, while efforts to reduce bills by £50 on average would also help.
Shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint said: "Fuel poverty is rising and the gap between people's bills and what they can afford growing too, yet David Cameron is doing nothing to stand up to the energy companies or reform the energy market.
"To help people with their energy bills, the next Labour Government will undertake the biggest overhaul of our energy market since privatisation.
"Our plans will break up the big energy companies, put an end to their secret deals and create a tough new regulator with the power to force companies to cut their prices when wholesale costs fall.
"And until these reforms kick in, we will put a stop to unfair price rises by freezing energy bills until 2017, saving the average household £120."
