The government has consistently failed to protect consumers from rip-off energy prices, as a result we are now facing a cold homes crisis where over four million UK households are living in fuel poverty. This means that over four million households are unable to heat their homes adequately due to soaring prices which amount to more than 10 per cent of household income.
Across Dagenham and Rainham there are currently 3768 households living in fuel poverty which amounts to 9.4 per cent of the local population which is just under the London average of 10.6 per cent. There were also 48 ?excess winter deaths' in the constituency last year, and it is believed that 30 per cent of these were attributed to cold homes.
Jon Cruddas MP for Dagenham and Rainham commented: "The statistics for the country, and for my constituency are shocking. Energy costs are spiralling out of control and it is the poorest and most vulnerable that are paying the price, over 3,000 families across Dagenham and Rainham are struggling to heat their homes this winter.
"This Tory government's continued failure to tackle our broken energy market means people on low incomes are paying more while the profits of the Big Six energy companies continue to soar. It is a shameful situation.
"Labour are committed to insulating four million homes as an infrastructure priority, cutting emissions, improving health, saving people money, and reducing winter deaths. Along with my parliamentary colleagues I will fight to introduce an emergency price cap ensuring that the average bill stays under £1,000 a year, while we transition to a fairer system for the bill payer."
Today is Fuel Poverty Awareness Day and you can do your bit to hold energy companies to account by sharing this on social media using the hashtag #NoColdHomes