With a 16.6 per cent rise in power prices on the way, Anglicare and the Tasmanian Council of Social Services yesterday said it would hit poorer Tasmanians the hardest.

Almost 16,000 Tasmanians accessed emergency relief in 2008, and Anglicare research officer Kathleen Flanagan said that number was increasing.

She said people would start to compromise on things such as food and Pay-As-You-Go power to cover the increases.

"Some people will let the power go off in the days before pay day," Ms Flanagan said.

With power prices rising significantly in the past six years, Ms Flanagan said it was harder for those on the edge to keep going.

TasCOSS acting chief executive Ann Hughes said people were already struggling to pay for power before the latest round of price rises.

She said people with disabilities who were at home more often using equipment would be disproportionately disadvantaged.

Ms Hughes said the "big shocks" in electricity prices hit hard in places like Tasmania, where heating was so important in winter.

"Being warm ought to be a basic right," she said.

Ms Hughes also said many poorer Tasmanians were living in substandard Housing Tasmania homes, with bad insulation and inefficient heating.

She said refugees from countries near the equator were also put into homes in winter in Tasmania without the necessary warm clothing and were running up "horrendous" heating bills.

Both Ms Hughes and Ms Flanagan said the government's concessions were important, but they needed to be targeted better.

Ms Hughes said there were also issues with people who did not qualify for a concession, but were living on a low income.

She said about one third of Tasmania's population lived on Centrelink or pension benefits.