Two-thirds of Tendring private rentals below 'C' energy standard

Data from the ONS shows only 31 per cent of private rental properties in Tendring were rated C or above in the year to March – below the English average of 44 per cent.

All properties in Britain receive an Energy Performance Certificate rating, from A down to E.

The average rating of all private rental properties in the area was 64, lower than the East of England average at 69.

The national average was 68.

The latest data on EPC ratings follows the government's decision to cut pensioners' Winter Fuel Allowance which charity Age UK say will have affect 82 per cent of pensioners below the poverty line. 

Environmental organisation Friends of the Earth called for more financial support for those who can't afford to upgrade their homes.

Head of policy Mike Childs said: "Cold homes cost the UK tens of billions of pounds each year in NHS costs and reduced productivity due to ill health – clearly they’re a huge own goal for public health, the economy and our climate."

Mr Childs said the Government should also invest £6billion per year for the next decade to "end the scourge of cold homes once and for all".

Peter Smith, director of policy at fuel poverty charity National Energy Action, said renters have endured the worst energy efficiency conditions for many years.

Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, announced in September that the Government will have a consultation before the end of the year on a new minimum efficiency standards for the private and social rented sectors.

The consultation will be part of a proposal to boost the minimum energy efficiency standards of all rented homes to EPC rating C by 2030.

A government spokesman said that "over one million households” are set to be lifted out of fuel poverty in the “biggest potential boost” in history after years of energy shocks, adding: "Low-income homeowners and private tenants are also being supported to make energy performance and clean heating upgrades."