In Walker and North Jesmond the figures were 48% and 44% respectively. Parklands in the north of the city has the lowest percentage of homes in fuel poverty – 12.9%.

One in three households in the region were officially classed as being in fuel poverty – the highest rate in the country – with 16 out of 26 wards in Newcastle having more than 30% of their households falling into the category.

The poor, disabled and elderly are hit hardest, but now middle- class families are slipping into fuel poverty as they struggle to juggle the rising cost of living with increases in the cost of heating their home.

In Elswick, 53% of people over 60 were in fuel poverty, closely followed by Benwell with 50% and Kenton with 46%.

According to the figures, 14 of the 26 wards had more than 40% of their pensioner households struggling to pay bills.

Northern cities are the worst affected by fuel poverty – defined as a household which spends more than 10% of its income on fuel to maintain adequate warmth classed as 21 degrees Celsius for a living room.

And as the number of people with energy debts has risen by a quarter for electricity and a fifth for gas, increasing numbers of people will be faced with the stark choice this winter about whether to eat or keep warm.

Elderly couple Don and Sheila Barrett had their home insulated in a bid to keep energybills down.

Even now, they usually only keep one room constantly warm to save pennies.

Mr Barratt, 74, who lives with his wife in a three-bedroom semi in West Denton, said: “We have to try and keep the bills down. We put our heating on for a couple of hours in the morning, then we keep just the one room warm with the gas fire.

“It’s too expensive to heat the whole house all of the time. We pay around £96-a-month for our gasandelectricity. That’s a lot of money for people living off a pension. Our electricity bill alone has increased by £9-a-month recently.

“Winter fuel allowances have helped but we just don’t know if we’re getting it this year. There’s nothing worse than sitting in the cold in your house. For older people, it can be detrimental to your health for example with people who have arthritis.

“The big energy companies need to do more. They have huge profits and yet still somehow they can justify these price rises. Insulation has helped. The rooms take longer to cool down, which is a help.”

Michelle Mitchell, charity director of Age UK said: “The shocking fact is that one third of all older households are in fuel poverty and with rising energy prices this is only set to get worse.

“We have to do more to tackle the rising cost of all energy bills if we are going to reduce the numbers of pensioner households in fuel poverty and we need action across government to make it happen

The actions that Newcastle City Council can take to tackle this growing problem will be the subject of a seminar, Heat or Eat, tomorrow.

Deputy leader of Newcastle City Council, Coun Joyce McCarty, said fuel prices and debt was a big problem that was only set to get worse.

She said: “Many households are suffering real hardship at the moment as the cost of just about everything they need is going up.

“Energy prices went up 7% and further rises of 14% this autumn will push more people into debt. It’s a big problem set to get much worse, especially if we have a severe winter.

“As a council we are committed to doing all that we can to help our residents, but we can’t do this on our own.

“We are bringing together all of our partners to tackle this together.”

As part of the city council’s new approach a range of interested parties will meet to discuss the cause of fuel poverty in Newcastle, its extent, the work to tackle it and the next steps.

Attendees at the seminar, at Newcastle’s Mansion House, include Newcastle Warm Zone, Age UK, the Elders’ Council, the Citizens Advice Bureau and the Money Wise Credit Union.