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“It doesn’t have to be like this but we muddle along with far too many pensioners in fuel poverty, it is hardly surprising that the cold takes its toll.”
Greg Clark, the Tory Shadow Energy and Climate Change Minister, said: “The number of pensioners living in fuel poverty is estimated to have quadrupled in the last five years, despite Labour having promised to abolish fuel poverty among pensioners completely by 2010.”
Despite a recent decline in swine flu cases, commentators said that the figures pointed to one of the worst winter death rates in living memory.
Last year 36,700 more people died during the winter months than in the summer the worst level for almost a decade.
But there are predictions that this year as many as 45,000 people could die this winter.
Andrew Harrop, Head of Public Policy for Age Concern and Help the Aged, said: “These figures are extremely worrying and certainly suggest that the additional death toll due to exceptionally cold weather this winter is likely to top last year's total of 36,700 people.
“Last year 2.7 million pensioner households were living in fuel poverty and this year, with energy bills still high and the cold weather forcing people to heat their homes for longer, we fear the numbers of people living in fuel poverty will escalate.”
Other research by The Daily Telegraph also exposes the extent of pressure placed on the NHS with calls to ambulance services across the country up 7.2 per cent in the last month.
As well as a dramatic rise in the number of falls – up by a quarter in some areas – there were worrying rises in complaints of chest and heart problems, conditions known to be affected by cold weather.
A Department of Health spokesman said: "All public services are under pressure following the severe weather, but the NHS and its staff are working extremely hard to minimise the impact on patients.”