One in four of UK social housing households were hit by fuel poverty last winter, new data has revealed.

According to analytics company Switchee’s new Housing Fuel Poverty Index (HFPI), the crisis hit 17.3% in winter 2021-22, while last winter saw a peak of 23.5% — 307,016 social homes.

Switchee says the figures represent an increased risk of mould, which contributes to an additional potential 16,424 NHS admissions and a possible cost to the UK economy of £52.4 million.

The firm calculates that, if redirected, £52.4 million would cover the annual heating bills of 34,950 homes.

Swtichee’s HFPI is an aggregated metric spotlighting fuel poverty prevalence within social housing across the UK, and the company says it will facilitate an improved understanding of the key issues impacting social homes right now, in real-time.

Additionally, it’ll provide a bank of data — with 2021 the starting point — that will allow those in the social housing sector to more efficiently identify and act upon potential future trends.

Switchee’s CEO, Tom Robbins, said: “The sector needs information quickly if it’s to act quickly, and quick action is what the sector needs right now. The HFPI, as an accurate ongoing barometer of the sector’s fight against fuel poverty, will enable social housing providers and policymakers to make meaningful progress at pace — the ultimate aim being to help those who need it the most.”

The worst affected regions throughout winter 2022-23 were Northern Ireland, with an average HFPI percentage of 24.41%, followed by Wales, 18.88%, and North East England, 17.33%. London was the best performing region at 9.07%, followed by the East of England at 9.36%.

In the context of Switchee’s HFPI, fuel poverty is defined as homes that never reached a temperature of 18 degrees Celsius (°C) for any of the previous seven days. 18°C being the minimum indoor temperature before a risk to health occurs, according to Public Health England. Winter is defined as 1 October to 31 March.

Switchee says this is the first and only real-time metric demonstrating the state of the nation’s social housing fuel poverty crisis. It’s calculated by amalgamating the real-time data captured by tens of thousands of Switchee devices installed in social homes and paints an accurate picture of how fuel poverty in social homes is influenced by external factors and real world developments, accounting for cold snaps and heatwaves, energy price fluctuations, and relevant policy decisions (to name a few).

Data collected is overlaid with further data relating to regional social housing stock and then aggregated as an average. Properties are only included in the HFPI when occupancy is detected and enough data records exist for any given day, therefore eradicating any potential for volatile anomalies.