NEARLY one in 10 households in England were living in cold draughty homes — struggling to pay their energy bills last year, government figures showed today.

Some 2.36 million households (9.4 per cent) were in fuel poverty in England under the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) metric.

The small reduction from the rate of 9.9 per cent in 2024 is largely due to improved home insulation, “but the overall picture remains deeply concerning,” said the fuel poverty campaigners.

The fuel poverty gap (the average shortfall fuel-poor households need to cover adequate heating) remains largely unchanged at about £379 per household and low-income households are spending 14.9 per cent of their income on energy on average, the data showed.

End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said: “These figures show just how fragile progress on fuel poverty really is and how quickly it could go into reverse.

“With energy prices set to rise from July 1 — and heating oil and liquefied petroleum gas costs already hitting 1.7 million off-gas-grid households — we are likely to see more people pushed into difficulty.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said on Monday that the government plans to help “those who need it most” if energy bills spiral due to the US-Israel war with Iran.

“Across Britain, we estimate that well over 13 million households will be struggling with their energy bills as a result of the current oil and gas price crisis,” said Mr Francis.

“This is history repeating itself. Ministers must act now with targeted support, faster home upgrades and reforms to energy pricing so households are no longer exposed to volatile fossil fuel markets.”