ONE IN FIVE Fife households could soon be facing fuel poverty, according to council estimates.

It is thought that from next year more than 35,000 people in the region will be spending more than 10% of their income on gas and electricity, up from 23,500 at present.

Recent price rises of up to 35% have sparked fears that many people on low incomes will have to choose between eating and heating this winter.

Yesterday, as Fife Council issued advice to householders to help them to survive rising energy costs, there were calls for the UK Government to act.

Age Concern has previously called for Government intervention and for elderly people to be prepared for winter, and earlier this month Glenrothes couple Paul and Pauline Snaith brought the struggle into sharp focus.

They had been paying £50 a month for gas and electricity through Scottish Gas but their bills have now increased to over £70 with little prospect of better news to come.

Scottish Gas have put up prices by 35% for gas, 9% for electricity and 25% for dual-fuel customers and other energy providers have followed suit with similar increases.

Maureen Closs, of Fife Child Poverty Action Group, expressed alarm at the figures and the council’s prediction that they would plunge a further 12,000 people into poverty.

“People have already been facing the choice of fuel or food and this is going to make it even starker,” she said.

“CPAG have long campaigned for increases in child benefit and if that were to happen it would be really helpful to people.

“It is people in poverty who will be disproportionately affected by these increases because they already spend a higher proportion of their income on fuel.”

Louise McLeary, spokes-person for the Campaign Against Charges group, which is calling on Fife Council to reverse its decision to increase home care charges, said the increase in energy costs would add to many disabled people’s woes. “Older people and disabled people tend to be on low incomes but also tend to have higher fuel bills because they are in the house more,” she said.

“They are paying a huge percentage of their low incomes on fuel and something that could help locally would be for the council to rethink the implications of its home care charges which will hit people in the pocket.”

Advice released by the council includes urging people to contact their suppliers if they are having difficulty paying their bills and to ask them if they have a social tariff which would benefit them.

The local authority has also advised people to use the minimum gas and electricity while ensuring a reasonable level of heating. The recommended temperature in the main living area is 21C (or 23C for the elderly, the very young and those with health problems) and 18C elsewhere in the house.