The government has said that it is altering the rules to define fuel poverty, a move that will reduce the number of families from 3.5 million to 2.5 million.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change said that the move is aimed at making sure that the aid is targeted at those who need it the most. Under the new rules, a household will be defined as fuel poor if the total income of its occupants is below the poverty line accounting for the energy costs and its energy costs are higher than typical.

Under the current regulations, a household that spent more than 10 per cent of their income of fuel was defined as fuel poor. The move to change the definition comes following a consultation launched in September in the previous year and an independent review of the current definition by Professor John Hills of the London School of Economics (LSE) that was published in March 2012.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change have said that the ministers have agreed that the current system would include some of the rich households while leaving others with struggling with the energy costs. The coalition government is introducing amendments to the Energy Bill to implement the new changes to the laws.

Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, said, "In the past, action to tackle fuel poverty has been held back by how the problem has been defined. The new definition, together with the amendment that we are making to the Energy Bill, will ensure a focus on the households that are at the heart of the fuel poverty problem. That's those with both low incomes and high energy costs."