We've insulated, double-glazed and tariff-traded our way through a decade and yet greedy energy firms are squeezing us harder than ever, official figures showed yesterday.

Campaigners railed against Britain's "catastrophic" fuel poverty crisis as official statistics revealed that energy bills have risen by more than half since 2002, even after adjusting for inflation.

In 2002 the average household spent about £69 a month on their fuel bills, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) said.

But fast forward to 2012 and household bills had rocketed to an average of £106 - a 55 per cent increase.

Households are paying more for less, with ONS attributing a 17 per cent drop in energy consumption to efficiency schemes and "generally increasing public awareness."

Almost one in four households across Britain have to fork out more than 10 per cent of their incomes on fuel bills and are counted as being in fuel poverty.

But Con-Dem ministers have repeatedly shrugged off campaigners' demands.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey drew ridicule last October after telling people to wear jumpers to offset energy giants' eye-watering price increases.

The Campaign for Public Ownership's Neil Clark said the official figures offered further proof that Mr Davey and his Con-Dem colleagues were spouting "neoliberal clap-trap."

He said: "We get all this waffle about great competition, but there's no way of getting around this - basic utilities have become major items of expense. You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes.

"We could carry on having this same conversation for the next five or 10 years, but the fact of the matter is the only way we will ever see a reduction in the size of household energy bills is a full return to nationalisation."

Fuel Poverty Action's Clare Welton agreed: "The ever-increasing cost of energy bills at a time when wages are stagnant and benefits are being cut is having a catastrophic impact on households.

"Currently one in four households are living in unacceptably cold homes and one in five homes are in debt to their energy supplier.

"And as the big six companies continue their profiteering business-as-usual and gas becomes increasingly expensive, the situation will only worsen.

"It's time to talk about real solutions to fuel poverty, cold homes and our expensive and unsustainable energy system, which is contributing towards floods like those seen earlier this year.

"We need urgent investment in affordable renewable energy, just as we need to move away from a for-profit energy model towards an energy system that puts communities and those in fuel poverty first," she said.