Tens of thousands living in fuel poverty across West Midlands
Tens of thousands of households across the West Midlands are living in fuel poverty and struggling to keep their homes heated, new figures have revealed.
In the Black Country 63,579 properties out of 384,987 homes cannot afford their fuel bills.
The data has been released by Age UK as part of their Warm Homes campaign against fuel poverty, warning 24,000 older people could die because of the cold.
However the figures include all households, regardless of their occupants' age.
They were worked out based on the household income and someone is classed as fuel poor if they would spend so much of their earnings to heat their home it would leave them below the poverty line.
In some areas between one in 10 and almost one in five homes are classed as being fuel poor.
Dudley has the highest number of fuel poor households with 19,731 out of 137,166 properties - a rate of 14.4 per cent.
Wolverhampton has 19,057 homes in fuel poverty out of 104,949 that is 18.2 per cent of homes.
In Walsall of 73,947 houses 13,450 will face a battle to keep warm - a rate of 18.2 per cent.
Sandwell had the fewest homes in such poverty 11, 341 out of 68,925 homes which is 16.5 per cent.
In Cannock Chase, 4,411 homes out of 39,764 are estimated to be 'fuel poor' - 11.1 per cent.
In Stafford it is 4,842 out of 39,391 homes and in South Staffordshire it is 3,882 out of 37,580 homes.
Lichfield has 4,123 fuel poor homes out of 37,770.
Wyre Forest has 42,018 households of which 5,679 are estimated to be fuel poor.
MP for Dudley North Ian Austin said: "Lots of families in the Black Country are struggling to make ends meet.
"Wages here are below the national average and bills keep going up, with energy bills rocketing by £300 in the last four years.
"For more than one in ten homes in the Black Country things are so bad that heating bills are pushing them into poverty.
"I want energy bills to be frozen while we get long-term solutions in place like scrapping Ofgem and getting thousands of homes in Dudley insulated."
Caroline Abrahams of Age UK said: "No older person should worry that they could die from the cold in their own home.
"Fuel poverty is a national scandal which has claimed the lives of too many people for far too long and left many more suffering from preventable illness. We want a permanent solution and we believe it is within our grasp, if there is the necessary imagination and political will."
