Teesside debt support charity on hand to help as energy price cap rises
Ofgem's increasing the energy price cap by 4%
A debt support charity in Teesside say they're on hand to help today as energy prices rises from today.
Ofgem's increasing the cap by 4% meaning the average household will pay around £60 more a year or £5 a month extra.
Michele Van Zyl, debt centre manager at Christians Against Poverty in Hartlepool, said: "People have just been struggling for a really long time and I think for some people because of this price rise, they're just despairing even more. Whereas maybe sometimes they would have thought 'okay, I could do a payment plan, I could start to plug away at my debt even if it's going to take quite some time.'
"We were just with a client this morning and he just said to me 'I absolutely can't afford', and a lot of their budgets are unsustainable, so they're just not even affording food. And so this price rise is going to really be hard hitting for so many of our clients.
"We do home visits and their homes are freezing so I often just have to sit with my coat on for the whole appointment so that's just going to be worse. A lot of our clients struggle with physical health problems and so it's really difficult for them to be in their homes that are just cold.
"They're just at the point now where they're just saying to me 'I just can't afford it. I just don't have the money.' A lot of them are using credit cards to buy food, so it's not luxury things that they're using their credit cards for, but that does snowball and just becomes unmanageable."
Michele adds that many are still choosing to heat or eat: "They just don't eat. For them, the norm is to go a whole day without food and maybe have one meal a day, as I say, is quite normal. Or otherwise, clients are even saying 'I haven't had food for the last two or three days.
"There are people who are willing to help and it makes such a difference. I've sat with clients who on their first appointment are just telling me 'it's hopeless, I don't know what to do.' And by the end of the process, they're just amazed that there was a light at the end of the tunnel.
"I've had clients who have huge amounts of debt and it's not hopeless. There is a way out of their debt situation. So I just encourage them to get the help that they need."
More than four million homes who remain on a standard energy tariff will be impacted, coming at a time when cooler temperatures will see many switching on their central heating.
The End Fuel Poverty Coalition urged ministers to prepare an “emergency heat tariff” to cap the cost of heating this winter, with gas prices already rising 27% year on year from Thursday.
Ofgem has set gas at a maximum 7.97p per kilowatt hour for households on the standard variable tariff from today.
The coalition has advised gas is capped at 10p per kilowatt hour as forecasters predict it could reach as high as 12p per hour this winter.
Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the coalition, said: “With the number of households in fuel poverty set to soar again and at the most dangerous time of the year, the Chancellor has no choice but to act to provide increased targeted support to vulnerable households and plan to deliver wider universal help for people facing a sixth winter of high energy prices.
“If ministers do nothing, millions will spend this winter in cold, damp homes, unable to cook a hot meal. People will get ill. Some will die.
“Every one of those avoidable cases will be on this Chancellor’s watch.”
The Government says they're helping households by removing VAT from electricity bills until March next year.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “The Prime Minister has rightly recognised the need to give people breathing space with so many households under the cosh – but this energy bill emergency means the Government must go further and faster at the Budget to protect households.
“That means cutting energy bills for the majority of households with a social tariff, paid for by a tax on banks’ enormous profits.”
National Energy Action chief executive Adam Scorer urged the Government to do more to help poorer households with energy costs.
He said: “The autumn Budget must deliver additional targeted support for households most at risk this winter, alongside action to tackle energy debt and improve the least energy efficient homes.”
Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said: “I know energy price rises weigh heavily on homes across the UK this winter.
“From October 1, our VAT cut will give households some much-needed breathing space, making the energy price cap £45 a year less than it would have been.
“This follows the £150 of costs we removed from bills earlier this year.
“Alongside this, we continue to look at what more we can do to protect families from unaffordable bills, as we drive down bills for good through clean power.”
The removal of the 5% levy until 31st March next year will save the average bill payer around £45 a year, estimates from the Government show.
Households will still pay 5% VAT for gas.