Groups which represent older folk say pensioners are coming to them daily with worries about rocketing prices for gas and electricity.

Latest figures show almost 190,000 people in the North West, including 3,600 in Preston, live in fuel poverty – meaning they spend at least 10% of their income on energy bills.

The real number is feared to be far higher as the Government has not produced statistics for the last 12 months, when utility companies introduced record price hikes.

Bill Hodges, of the South Ribble Pensioners' Association, said the group came across cases every day of "silent victims" of fuel poverty whose health was at risk from the cold.

He said many were now keeping their heating turned down to a minimum through December because they were "terrified" about getting a huge energy bill in the New Year.

The 72-year-old said: "I know people who are living their days in the cold with jumpers and coats on inside and then putting the heaters on for a couple of hours during the night.

"These people are not like today's generation.

"If they get a bill they want to pay it there and then and they do not want charity or hand-outs, so they will suffer in silence."

Housing experts have predicted 5.7m households in the UK will be pushed into fuel poverty by the end of 2009. Average household electricity bills are expected to increase to more than £500 per year by 2010, and gas bills to around £900.

Margaret Mills, 87, is one of those finding energy bills are increasingly eating into her fixed income.

Widow Margaret, from Ingol, keeps warm with an electric blanket because she suffers from poor circulation.

She said: "I find it hard-going because I have to live on my pension.
"I have to save up to put more money in the bank, to make sure the bills are paid.

"I pay by direct debit, but I've got to be careful to make sure I have enough in there to cover it.

"I have the central heating on but, if I'm going out shopping or anywhere, I turn it right down."

Last year, 25,300 more people died during the winter months than in the summer – an increase of 7% on the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Most of those were elderly people suffering from respiratory or circulation problems.

Ruth Davison, director of the National Housing Federation's campaigns and neighbourhoods department, warned the UK is facing a "full-scale national energy crisis".

She said: "The government needs to grasp the nettle and take strong and radical action to protect the nation's energy customers."

A spokesman for the Department of Energy said the government had spent £20bn on tackling fuel poverty since 2000.

He said: "Fuel poverty continues to be a priority and we are doing all we can to help the most vulnerable keep warm this winter and beyond."

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