Fuel poverty 'kills 2,700 a year'

Some 2,700 people die each year as a result of fuel poverty, a report claims today.

MPs attacked the electricity and gas giants as "robber barons" who exploit customers with price rises that are putting lives at risk.

Interim findings by Professor John Hills said if just a tenth of so-called "excess winter deaths" were down to fuel poverty, that would mean 2,700 people a year in England and Wales were perishing in the cold.

The review described the figure as a "conservative estimate", which means more people die as a result of fuel poverty than on the roads.

Labour MP John Robertson, of the energy and climate change committee, called the situation a "disgrace".