A third of Scottish households are in fuel poverty and unable to keep their homes warm, new figures from the Scottish government have revealed.

In 2009, about 770,000 homes were said to be in fuel poverty – spending more than 10 per cent of household income on heating – compared with 618,000 in 2008 and 293,000 in 2002.

A household is considered to be in fuel poverty if it would be required to spend more than 10 per cent of its income to adequately heat its home, and in extreme fuel poverty if it would have to spend more than 20 per cent.

The figures from the Scottish House Condition Survey also indicated that the number of households in "extreme fuel poverty" had risen from 3 per cent in 2002 to 10 per cent in 2009.

Consumer Focus Scotland said the statistics demanded concentrated action by government at all levels.

Scottish Housing Minister Alex Neil said Scotland was leading the way in helping households reduce the amount of fuel they need to buy, with the figures showing that 140,000 more households had become more energy efficient since 2008.

He added: "However, it is bitterly cold and we know many hard-pressed households are struggling with fuel bills.

"What is extremely worrying, is that soaring energy prices have led to an increase in the number of people spending more than 10 per cent of their income on fuel bills."

The cost of fuel increased by 19.5 per cent between July 2008 and July last year, according to the government.

Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said: "For one of the world's more wealthy countries like Scotland to now have more than one third of its households, 770,000, living in fuel poverty or extreme fuel poverty brings shame on our nation."

He urged the government to prioritise the building of new energy-efficient housing and raise the standard of existing housing stock.

http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=14849