1.7m UK households won’t turn heating on this winter, research finds

More than half of households cite rising living costs as reason for not heating homes, while quarter of pensioners blame loss of winter fuel payments

More than 1.7 million households say they will not turn on their heating this winter, according to research by comparison site Uswitch. This has risen sharply from the 972,000 who said they took this drastic step last year.

The research reported that 55% of households cited rising living costs as the reason they would hold out on heating their homes, while a quarter of pensioners put it down to the loss of winter fuel payments, despite it being a potential health risk.