Commenting on today's Ofgem energy price cap announcement that will see the typical
annual bill increase by 4% to £1,723 from October, Independent Age Chief Executive Joanna Elson, CBE said:
“Today’s Ofgem energy price cap announcement will heap more pressure on the already stretched budgets of the 1.7 million older people in the UK living in poverty and the million others teetering on the brink.
“With winter on the horizon, older people on low incomes will once again be forced to take drastic action to keep themselves warm as rising energy bills eat away at already inadequate incomes.
“Each winter we hear heartbreaking testimony from older people wearing winter clothing to bed to fend off the cold, being forced to choose between putting food on the table or using their heating, and some are abandoning their cold homes altogether to find warmth in public buildings.
“We are urging Andy Burnham’s government to protect people on low incomes, including people in later life, from relentless energy price hikes. Boosting the Warm Home Discount from £150 to £400, funding this increase directly and improving targeting would make an immediate difference to those who cannot make ends meet.
“In the long-term, the development of a more comprehensive targeted energy social tariff is essential to protect low-income households from the all too regular price shocks that are pushing them deeper into financial hardship and poverty.”