THE impact of fuel poverty on the poorest households is today laid bare in new research from a Bradford-based debt charity.

Findings showed that more than half had struggled to either heat their home, cook hot food, wash their clothes, or wash themselves. The national survey, carried out by Christians Against Poverty, asked more than a thousand of their clients what life was like before they received help with their debt problems.

“Fuel poverty isn’t just about keeping warm, vital as that is,” said Matt Barlow, chief executive of CAP, based in Little Germany.

“It’s about the grinding poverty that calls people to make impossible choices like do I make a hot meal or bath the kids. Will I run out of electricity if I use the washing machine? Anecdotally, of course, we have known these were the kind of issues the UK’s poorest people are living with but the findings show how just widespread this is.

“As we head into the colder months, our concerns are for the people who can’t afford to put the heating on and can’t get a hot meal inside them either. We don’t yet know if it will be a hard winter but if it is, some people simply won’t survive that kind of hardship.”

To date, more than 1,000 people have responded to the 2014 questionnaire, with 50 per cent admitting their debt meant they could not sufficiently heat their home, 24 per cent saying they could not cook hot food, 16 per cent could not wash their clothes and eight per cent saying they couldn't afford to wash themselves. However 47 per cent said none of these issues applied to them.

The results were made public on the day a three-day conference called Turning the Tide began in Scarborough. It has been organised by National Energy Action and Ed Davey, the secretary of state for energy and climate change, is scheduled to speak.

CAP’s survey also questioned the use of the pay-as-you-go pre-payment energy meters. Findings revealed that 39 per cent were paying for energy in this way, precluding them from the best dual-fuel and online deals. These meters also mean people cannot spread the cost of winter fuel over the course of a year.

“We hear again and again about the poverty premium,” said Mr Barlow, “but here is the evidence. The same people who were living with the indignity of not washing themselves and their clothes were actually paying more for their energy which is a terrible injustice.”