Households across the country have had to crankturn up the heating during the recent UK cold spell, but it won’t be long beforethe fuel bills start to arrive, and many people could be in for a big shock

Although estimates vary, price comparison website energyhelpline.com  said the cold spell could raise the average January fuel bill up by almost 50% to £227.

It has been estimated that the could spell could give a predicted £100 million boost in profits for the UK’s ‘big six’ suppliers this year, which has given rise to accusations of profiteering from consumer groups.

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has been estimated to have made as much as £50million extra from the cold spell, a lot of this from people who have to choose between heating and eating, but the energy companies insist that the increased profits are the result of higher usage rather than rising prices, with daily demand surpassing the previous record, which was set in January 2003, according to network operator National Grid.

They add that energy costs have been slow to fall due to the price of stocks bought for this winter 18 months ago or longer, when wholesale costs were rocketing.

This explanation has done little to soothe groups like Age Concern which warns that pensioners will be hit with a “double whammy” of higher bills and inflation, which is also likely to rise in the first half of this year.

Age Concern estimates 2.7 million UK pensioner households, or one in three, live in fuel poverty. Older people are also more likely to rely on savings income which has been squeezed by record low interest rates.

There is now increasing concern that pensioners are facing a stark choice of either going without many everyday necessities or leave off their heating. recently Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Steve Webb estimated that up to 1.7 million pensioners will miss out on Cold Weather Payments. Steve Webb believes that the UK’s state pension provisions are not enough to really make a difference.

Steve Webb said:

“We need a more generous, universal pension based on citizenship that would give pensioners a sense of dignity and a stable income in retirement.” Steve Webb added that the current means-tested system that is in place to oversee the allocation of benefits among pensioners is “undignified”.

He also highlighted the problems that fuel poverty appears to be causing for a number of older people. Steve Webb called for a simplification of the country’s general benefits system, in order to support people more effectively.

Steve Webb said changes to the pension system had failed to help many older people.

“It is still the case that pensioners who are forced to rely on the state pension and Labour’s complex and undignified system of means-tested benefits are more likely to live in fuel poverty,” he said.

“The basic state pension is simply too little to live on for the millions of pensioners who have no other income.”