OLDER people are “feeling the pinch” as the cost-of-living crisis escalates, Labour warned today.

The party said that its analysis of official figures showed that over-65s typically pay twice as much for their energy, leaving them particularly vulnerable as bills skyrocket. 

Data from the Office for National Statistics and the House of Commons Library shows that older people spend an average of £15 a week on energy, compared with just £8 for those aged 30 to 49 and £7 for people under 30.

Over-65s tend to live in draughtier homes, the analysis revealed, with nearly a fifth (17 per cent) of households with a person aged over 60 being in the three least energy-efficient bands compared with only 10 per cent for others.

The rate for those aged over 75 is even higher at 20 per cent.

Older people also face having to fork out an extra £341 a year from April, when the energy price cap, which has already gone up by 12 per cent, could more than double to 29 per cent, Labour said.

Together with the rising cost of social care and Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s refusal to honour triple-lock pension increases in 2022-23, over-65s face a “growing crunch,” the party stressed.  

It reiterated calls for ministers to remove VAT from household energy bills to help ease the burden this winter. 

Labour’s energy efficiency retrofitting policy, announced by leader Sir Keir Starmer last year, could also save typical households £400 a year, the party said. 

The estimate is based on the expected cost of bills next year after the energy price cap is raised.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “With costs of food and fuel soaring, millions are feeling the pinch, with older people feeling the hit from rising energy prices especially hard. 

“Labour would immediately cut VAT on domestic energy bills to ease the burden on households during winter.

“Given they’ve just loaded working people with the biggest tax burden in 70 years, this Conservative government should get a grip and tackle this crisis, but instead they just continue to sit back complacently, trapping us in a high-tax, low-growth economy.”

Labour’s left has urged the party leadership to go much further and renationalise major energy companies, a policy that Sir Keir appeared to back before his election as leader in April 2020.