Thousands of people in the UK have been admitted to hospital after living in freezing homes, with new data linking the trend to rising energy bills.
NHS Trusts reported a 66% increase in pneumonia admissions, a 45% rise in hyperthermia cases and a 33% jump in incidents caused by extreme cold between 2022 and 2025.
People aged over 70 were the most affected, recording the highest number of cold-related hospital admissions since 2020.
Madeleine Gabriel, director of Sustainable Future at Nesta, explained: ‘Nobody should be getting ill from living in a cold home because they can’t afford to turn up the thermostat.’
Commissioned by clean energy company Aira, the research links the increase to high energy bills following the war in Ukraine, with experts warning the conflict in the Middle East could worsen the situation.
The figures include 5,828 adult hospital admissions among people living in homes they owned or rented, including 4,701 in England and 1,127 in Scotland. Aira analysed Freedom of Information responses from NHS Trusts, alongside data from NHS Digital and Public Health Scotland.
Matt Isherwood, managing director of Aira UK, said: ‘Far too many households in Britain today are living in dangerously cold homes, made worse by electricity prices that are among the highest in Europe and the developed world.
‘It is fundamentally unfair that clean electricity is taxed more heavily than gas. The situation could deteriorate further for households and public services if energy prices climb due to the Middle East crisis – with wholesale UK gas prices more than doubling since the war began.’
‘To fix this, we need to rebalance the cost of electricity relative to gas, introduce an urgent support scheme for low-income households and publish the Future Homes Standard,’ Isherwood continued.
Pippa Heylings, MP for South Cambridgeshire, added: ‘Households are still struggling with the cost of living and energy prices remain about a third higher than before Putin’s war in Ukraine. This is leaving too many families trapped in fuel poverty – living in Dickensian cold, damp homes.’
Image: KWON JUNHO/UnSplash
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