We’re freezing in our homes
Cash-strapped OAPs sit in cold as energy crisis continues to bite
I had hoped to retire but if I want to stay warm, I have to work. I cut back and go to sleep with extra layers
MELANIE ROBERTS, 71, WHO IS BEING HIT BY PRICE RISES
THE poorest pensioners are enduring bitter cold in a “miserable” winter due to spiralling energy bills, a charity warns.
Older people in a household with an income of less than £20,000 a year and no benefits are suffering, according to Age UK, which said the cost-of-living crisis is far from over.
One woman told the charity: “I never thought I’d get to 73 and forced to be freezing in our own home.”
Melanie Roberts, 71, of Slaithwaite, West Yorks, has paid off her mortgage but still works 40 hours a week as the state pension does not cover basics. She said: “I had hoped to have retired by now but if I want to stay warm, I have to work.”
Ms Roberts buys gas bottles for her remote home, which have soared from £60 to £110. She added: “I cut back on anything I can. I go to sleep with extra layers. I’m up to six to eight blankets right now.”
Some 29% of over-60s told Age UK their home was mostly too cold, while 59% worried about their ability to heat their home and 47% feared not being able to afford essentials like food. Age UK charity director Caroline Abrahams is urging a funded social tariff for energy. She said: “Energy prices remain too high for many. The Government needs to face up to this reality and to the distress and anxiety it is causing millions of older people. “We must not sleepwalk into a situation in which it is ‘normal’ for an older person to shiver through the cold in their own home.”