Simon Read: 'Still people die because they can't afford the heating bills'

An estimated 15,000 people died unnecessarily between December and March

Shocking new figures published yesterday revealed that an estimated 15,000 people died unnecessarily between December and March because they were living in homes they couldn't afford to heat. Fuel poverty campaigners reckon the number of excess winter deaths surged last winter to 49,260, of which around 14,780 were due to people living in cold homes.

The new figures follow research published two weeks ago revealing that around 14.3 million households turned off their heating at some point last winter to cut energy bills. Around two-fifths of consumers said they left their oven door open after cooking and a quarter wore a coat, scarf or hat indoors to keep warm, rather than turning on their heating, according to the uSwitch survey. Ann Robinson of uSwitch, said: "It's unacceptable that people should feel forced to gamble with their health to try and cope with sky-high energy bills.

I agree. And I am angered that the scandal of fuel poverty and unnecessary deaths goes on year after year. How would you feel if a friend or relative of yours became one of the shocking winter statistics simply because they couldn't afford to heat their home properly? Conservatives have pledged to insulate 1 million homes if they win next week's election, but that seems wholly inadequate.

Ed Matthew of campaign group the Energy Bill Revolution says the pledge represents an 80 per cent decline in the rate of home insulation compared with the 5 million homes insulated in the last parliament. The other main parties – Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Greens – have made pledges for far more ambitious home energy efficiency programmes to end the "cold home crisis". That's something else to think about next Thursday.

s.read@independent.co.uk

twitter: @simonnread