:00:07. > :00:15.Tonight, and Inside Out special. As temperatures drop and energy bills
:00:16. > :00:21.soared, the times and is `` be consequences for us all. Dying to be
:00:22. > :00:28.worn ` the experiment which shows why cold is a killer. When he goes
:00:29. > :00:30.outside there is an increase in his blood pressure reading and that
:00:31. > :00:36.shows the effect of cold temperatures.
:00:37. > :00:44.And cutting off the power thieves that cost honest customers millions.
:00:45. > :00:48.I would have thought that these people could afford to pay for their
:00:49. > :01:12.energy and yet they have done something to get energy for nothing.
:01:13. > :01:18.This is Inside Out Southwest. It has been called a national
:01:19. > :01:23.scandal ` the tone of winter deaths among pensioners. Last year the
:01:24. > :01:26.number soared to 31,000. Why are so many old people at risk when cold
:01:27. > :01:34.weather bites? We have been investigating.
:01:35. > :01:40.Outside, it is a cool nine degrees. Inside Pamela Tilney`Ellis's mid
:01:41. > :01:45.Devon cottage, it is just 15 degrees, a temperature experts warn
:01:46. > :01:53.is verging on to called for old people to live in comfort. Thank you
:01:54. > :01:59.for the soup. You are welcome. What is your approach to heating the
:02:00. > :02:06.house? I don't believe in keeping it very hot, I think it is unhealthy. I
:02:07. > :02:13.prefer to put more clothes on. Why do you think it is unhealthy?
:02:14. > :02:20.Because you go out to a great change of temperature when you go outside.
:02:21. > :02:27.The room here is 15 Celsius. According to this, it is between
:02:28. > :02:33.cold and cool. I do not feel cold, but I have been busy all morning.
:02:34. > :02:38.Pamela's heating and cooking is oil fired. It is not the expense she is
:02:39. > :02:44.worried about. What about the cost of you will? It does not worry me.
:02:45. > :02:49.It is not because of cost, it is because it is what I comfortable at.
:02:50. > :02:54.Much of the afternoon will be dry and temperatures will be about two
:02:55. > :03:00.degrees. Keith Massey's house is also chilly, at 15 degrees. But not
:03:01. > :03:08.by choice. We had the heating on four and are in the morning. If it
:03:09. > :03:13.is called, we put it to 20, and then in the evening, from nine o'clock
:03:14. > :03:17.until ten o'clock we have it on. At 82, retired postman Keith says his
:03:18. > :03:24.pension does not stretch Foreign Office to let him keep his heating
:03:25. > :03:30.on longer. `` does not stretch far enough. House insurance, gas,
:03:31. > :03:34.electric, council tax, it works out at ?98 a week, and that is without
:03:35. > :03:40.food and luxuries. When you take that out of your pension you have
:03:41. > :03:44.not much left. Professor James Goodwin advises the Met Office on
:03:45. > :03:51.the health impacts of cold weather on the elderly. He is also head of
:03:52. > :03:56.research at Age UK. He says that there is a clear link between being
:03:57. > :04:02.cold and the number of excess winter deaths in the UK. Nearly 3 million
:04:03. > :04:07.people in the last 60 years. It does not have to be below freezing before
:04:08. > :04:13.people's health is affected. For every one degree that the present
:04:14. > :04:21.winter is at a 30 year average, there are 8000 extra deaths. The
:04:22. > :04:25.cold can thicken the blood and push up blood pressure. In older and
:04:26. > :04:32.vulnerable people, but can lead to strokes, heart attacks and breathing
:04:33. > :04:35.problems. If we look at causes of death in death certificates, less
:04:36. > :04:42.than 1% are from hypothermia. The statement I normally give is, the
:04:43. > :04:50.cold will kill you before your body gets that cold. In Yakutsk in
:04:51. > :04:55.Siberia, where the average temperature is `30, there are no
:04:56. > :05:01.excess winter deaths. And here we are in Britain, with the mild 10
:05:02. > :05:09.Celsius of Devon, and we see XS winter deaths. Pamela keeps fit and
:05:10. > :05:17.active. She is convinced she suffers no ill effects from the cold. But
:05:18. > :05:19.while Keith gets out and about, he is wondering whether his living
:05:20. > :05:26.conditions might affect his health one day. I think it would, yeah, but
:05:27. > :05:35.you can do nothing about it. You can't get money out of thin air.
:05:36. > :05:38.Both Pamela and Keith are in homes that are too cold, in the
:05:39. > :05:43.Professor's view. We asked them to take part in an experiment to find
:05:44. > :05:48.out what effect their lifestyles are having on a vital indicator of
:05:49. > :05:53.health ` their blood pressure. To do that, they will wear a blood
:05:54. > :05:57.pressure monitor for 24 hours. The body has to do something about the
:05:58. > :06:01.cold, so it shuts down the blood vessels in the skin to save heat. As
:06:02. > :06:07.the body does that it ramps up the blood pressure. Older people cannot
:06:08. > :06:11.slow down their heart rates in the same way that young people can, so
:06:12. > :06:12.they have raised blood pressure and a sustained heart rate. That places
:06:13. > 9:59:17the heart at