With the increasing number of families needing assistance with energy bills, the St Vincent De Paul Society hopes to raise $3 million in its Christmas Appeal to help.

There was a 16 per cent increase in the past year according to a recent survey in the percentage of low-income households having difficulty paying their electricity bills, the independent pricing tribunal found.

The society's senior researcher Dr Andrew Marks says there is a knock-on affect to other expenses from rising electricity and water costs.

There is also an increase in the number of working families seeking assistance.

He said, "When people can't afford to pay their bills they also can't cover the rent obviously, so we see people at risk of eviction and other forms of housing stress."

It was added that it's not just about the cost of switching on the light when we talk about rising energy bills as there are those other factors that it effects.

Those increases in costs are not met by more and more people who have a job.

In most cases, moderate increases in bills are way beyond the capacity of people to absorb as the increases of the type that have been seen over the past 12 to 18 months.