Consumers owe £1.3bn to energy suppliers, two months before bills are set to jump by more than 80%
Derek Lickorish, chairman of the energy supplier Utilita Energy and former chair of the government’s committee on fuel poverty, is calling for a “social tariff” funded by the Treasury to help the poorest in society.
The situation is absolutely dire and I am astonished that we don’t see the two political contenders for prime minister declare a unity of purpose over this issue along with the current prime minister and start sorting it out. We have to do something very profound, we have to do it quickly because all the time we’re sitting here the clock is ticking and the price of gas keeps on increasing.
When Rishi Sunak announced the last package of measures to help, the closing price of gas on 26 May was 237p a therm. The day before yesterday the price of gas closed on the market at 463p a therm. That’s gone up 90%.
As much as I’ve paid off a fair amount so far, I’m not going to be able to clear the outstanding amount before winter comes. With the energy prices going up in October and then even more so in January this winter is going to be tough.
I was working towards a better future and hopefully not repeating the Christmases we’ve had for the past two years. Last Christmas we were averaging a food shop once every 10 weeks if we could… I was hoping that with us both working full-time we wouldn’t have to go back to a food bank. I guess never say never. It’s going to be unbearable for so many families and to be honest I’m dreading it.
