‘Why is no one up in arms?’ Six householders on the menace of fuel poverty

theguardian.com:

Almost one in 10 households are now experiencing “fuel stress” amid surging gas and electricity prices – a figure expected to treble overnight after the new energy price cap comes in on 1 April.

The Resolution Foundation forecasts that energy bills will become unaffordable for 27% of households when the price cap rises to about £2,000 a year. The poorest households may have to spend half their income on energy.

Six people speak about how rising fuel costs are affecting them.

Thirty-nine-year-old Sarah Moorby in Kirkby, Lonsdale has been “absolutely terrified” about providing a meter reading to her new energy supply company since being switched over from People Energy, which went bust in September. “I was paying £105.78 a month before but my duel fuel bill for electric and gas which covered October to mid-January with British Gas was £627.”

Moorby, who works as a welfare assistant and has three children aged 15, 18 and 19, has applied for a warm home discount after she started receiving universal credit in March 2021. She said if her energy bills remain at the same rate for the rest of the year she is looking at an increase of about £2,500 for the year but is still waiting to hear if the discount will be applied to her bill. “I’ve got used to shaving off money here and there to make the pennies go further, but an extra £115 a month is going to have to come out of my food bill, or clothing for the kids,” she said.

“Everything’s so expensive now – even if it’s just 10p or 20p more. I used to spend around £60 a week on food but now it’s more like £75 still buying the same items. I’ve already lost two stone because I struggle to feed myself and choose to feed the kids. I just don’t think I’m going to be able to afford it. The fear