Almost 5,000 homes benefitted from the Welsh Government's fuel poverty scheme last year.

The scheme, Nest, also helped households save £475 on average, by giving free energy advice.

The latest figures revealed in the last financial year over 20,600 householder benefitted from the support.

John Griffiths, Minister for Natural Resources, Culture and Sport, welcomed the figures. He said: "It is widely acknowledged that the most effective way of tackling fuel poverty is by improving the energy efficiency of our homes. However for those people who are vulnerable, living on low incomes or living in hard to heat homes the cost of installing energy measures can often put this option out of reach.

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"Our energy efficiency programme, which includes the Nest scheme, was specifically designed to assist those groups most at risk of fuel poverty and I am proud of these latest figures which show that in the last year nearly 5,000 households in Wales benefitted from the installation of energy efficiency measures that will result in a real reduction in their fuel bills."

(CD/MH)