Inability to pay energy bills, limiting consumption to the detriment of health, and spending a high proportion of income on energy is known as energy poverty (EP). Low income, older households are among the most vulnerable, as they often live in old poorly designed homes and lack the capital and the agency to upgrade them. Adding to that, most of Australia’s existing housing stock is old and was constructed prior to the introduction of the first national housing minimum energy efficiency requirements. This study extends the knowledge about EP in Australia with a mixed-methods approach in two phases: in-depth interviews with Age pensioners experiencing EP in Sydney, to explore how EP affects – and is affected by – their capabilities; and a quantitative analysis of secondary data (the Australian Housing Conditions Dataset) to investigate the extent of EP among Age pensioners and their housing circumstances.