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like thisMore than 3 million low-income households in the UK cannot afford to heat their homes, according to analysis by a charity, as the country faces a cold spell with overnight temperatures expected to drop as low as -10C (14F) in some areas. area.
Three people who are unable to heat their homes, or have drastically reduced their energy use, share how they have been affected.
‘I won’t be able to turn on the heating at all’
Clifford, 48, hasn’t turned on the heating yet, and won’t this winter. She is increasingly unable to do her food shopping and keep the lights on.
“When my bills are paid, I don’t have enough money left over for food, so how can I afford to keep the heating on?”
Clifford, who lives in Grimsby and is not at work due to ill health, said: “I wear my pyjamas, dressing gown and coat, gloves and a hat to keep myself warm if it gets too cold. It’s ridiculous to do this to keep your own house warm, but I have to – it’s dress or freeze like this. As it is, I cannot afford to buy enough food to keep going.”
Clifford, who recently had a prepayment meter installed, says the damp in his home is getting worse. “There is black mold in almost every room. I go around cleaning it and it comes back again,” he says.
He has no place he can go during the day to keep warm. Sometimes when he gets really cold he “goes for a bus ride and hopes it warms up”.
The 48-year-old suffers from fibromyalgia, and finds it difficult to bear. He says it was 9C in his warmest room on Friday morning and 7C in his bedroom; NHS England recommends that rooms should be kept at a minimum of 18C. “I have more pain – my arms and legs are cramping very badly. I am depressed a lot of the time.”
‘Mold has reared its ugly head’
Robert Glynn and his partner did their best to keep the heat off this year, but when they started noticing their breath while watching TV, they decided it needed to come on. In the past week, they have started heating their flat in Glasgow for a maximum of 1.5 hours a day, in three short bursts. Even then, “it’s quite Baltic”. Once the heat stops in the evening, they can see their breath again.
“We are trying to keep it under control,” says the marketing expert, 36. “But we still go over budget every month and put it on plastic and it’s accumulating.”
Due to increases in other costs, including food and mortgage rates, he expects to be thousands of pounds in debt by the end of winter.
Glynn says they usually start heating their “classic Glasgow flat” in September. “The heating just seems to disappear from the windows. There is no insulation; It’s really tough.” As a result, they’re dealing with damp, especially in rooms where they’re underheated. “Mold has reared its ugly head. – We are scrubbing it and trying to stay on top of it. It’s close to my bed, and is starting to affect my sleep. My partner says I wheeze a bit at night and my breathing is really funny. I’m quite fit – I do 5Ks and parkruns. We try to open the windows, but it is freezing with blood.
‘I don’t want to end up on a prepayment meter’
Bryony, 33, is trying to keep her energy costs down because she is worried about British Gas increasing her direct debit and potentially forcing her onto a prepayment meter. Bryony, a single parent working in higher education in Plymouth and on universal credit, recently moved into a shared ownership property and negotiated to set her monthly direct debit at £140.
“I don’t want them to run up direct debits that I can’t pay for,” she says. “I just don’t want to end up on a prepayment meter, either [risk] Auto disconnect. I need to be able to keep my kids warm.
Bryony, who has two children aged nine and 12, is also cutting back as she is experiencing problems with her housing payments this month. If it doesn’t come by the end of December, she says she’ll have to turn off the heating. “I think it’s probably a mistake, but I’m in a financial situation until I find out. I have to find £330 a month more than I budgeted for. If I don’t get it, I will have to pay the entire rent myself, and that will take priority over heating.”
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