MORE than one in ten Black Country households are facing cold comfort this winter according to the charity Age UK.

Figures released as part of the group’s Warm Homes campaign show at total of 91,136 out of 614,253 homes in the four Black Country boroughs are estimated to cost so much to heat that bills for keeping them warm push householders below the poverty line.

The statistics are broken down into parliamentary constituencies, in Dudley North 15.8 per cent are in fuel poverty, in Dudley South the figure is 14.3 per cent while Stourbridge fares slightly better at 13.6 per cent.

Dudley North MP Ian Austin blames low wages and rising prices, he also says too many homes are lacking measures to keep heat in during cold weather.

Mr Austin said: “Lots of families in the Black Country are struggling to make ends meet. Wages here are below the national average and bills keep going up, with energy bills rocketing by £300 in the last four years.

“I want energy bills to be frozen while we get long-term solutions in place like scrapping Ofgem and getting thousands of homes in Dudley insulated.”