Who can afford a £500-a-month bill for energy?

WE hAVE just received notification from our supplier so Energy that our tariff ends in March.

We’ve done a calculation to compare the cost of our current £96 monthly bill and are horrified to find that under the new tariff the same usage would cost us £240 — nearly three times more.

The state pension increase has been pegged at 3.1 per cent. Clearly that is not going to go very far when we are to be confronted with a dramatic hike in our energy bills, especially with inflation at a predicted 6 per cent adding to the cost of living.

We are shopping around for a new energy provider, but are not hopeful that we will be offered a better deal.

ROB & SANDRA LEWIS, Lincoln.

Dire situation

WiThiN six weeks, when my contract is up for renewal, my monthly energy bill could increase by up to £200 a month for a three-year fixed-term contract.

how am i supposed to fund that? Eat more simply and cheaply; buy thermal underwear; turn down the heating; and use my savings.

For people on a state pension, the situation is dire. how can energy companies assume we will be able to pay huge increases?

LEWIS HERLITZ, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. MY ENERGY supplier has informed me my fixed-rate contract of £189 per month will expire shortly. it’s offered a new two-year fixed contract of £517 per month. i only wish it was having a laugh.

GLENNIS EDMONDS, Fleet, Hants. sORTiNG out a new electric contract, i’ve been surprised at the standing charge. My old rate was 27p a day while the new deal is 48p. if i don’t take the deal and am put on the variable rate, it goes up to 75p a day.

i contacted Ofgem, the energy regulator, but was told it deals only with the price cap.Why isn’t the standing charge a set rate?

C. BLEZARD, Kendal, Cumbria. ENERGY bills could be easily reduced by banning standing charges. They are a complete rip-off and are subject to VAT.

As a low user, these charges make up more than half of my bills.

RAYMOND BRIARS, Poole, Dorset.

Stand firm, Boris

i’VE certainly had my doubts about Boris Johnson, but his stance on the latest wave of Covid has left me with nothing but admiration.

Just think where we would be if Labour were in power. You only have to look at the Left-wing agenda in Wales and scotland to see the over-the-top restrictions that would have been imposed on England.

stand firm, Boris. We have to learn to live with this virus. i have no doubt the Government’s policy will turn out to be the right one. STUART A. CHALLIS,

Chelmsford, Essex.

NHS emergency

BORis JOhNsON says he is willing to ride out this wave of Covid infections. But he won’t be in an ambulance for hours if he gets ill and the Nhs is overwhelmed.

i recently suffered a stroke and the advice to ‘get a lift’ to hospital would not have been possible.

The Prime Minister is playing fast and loose with the public’s health all because he is running scared of his backbenchers.

DAVE JOHNS, Brighton. iF YOU have a heart attack, make your own way to the hospital. And don’t forget to pay the car parking charges! BRIAN BEST, High Wycombe, Bucks.

Wedded welding

ThERE’s nothing new about welded bracelets (Femail).

When i was a student in seville in 1969, my newly engaged friend proudly showed off her esclava (which means female slave in spanish), a gold bracelet inscribed with her fiancé’s name which had been welded to her wrist.

The idea was she could never remove it, short of having it cut off. Apparently, engagement rings were unknown. JENNIFER NICHOLSON-MORTON,

Blyth, Northumberland.

Green loses sheen

ThE article by Ross Clark listing all the green taxes we pay was certainly an eye-opener (Mail).

The powers-that-be seem to be making it up as they go along.

if wind and solar are so great, why do they need large subsidies?

They are not reliable, and anyone who thinks we can run the economy on them alone is bonkers.

DAVID WHITE, Basingstoke, Hants.

No typecasting

As AN actor who has played a priest, Jewish solicitor, murderer, bank robber, panto dame and fascist, i’m amazed Maureen Lipman feels Jewish roles should be played only by Jewish actors. My father was a Russian Jew who came to Britain as a wartime refugee. My loving parents certainly didn’t let their different faiths interfere with their love for each other. My sister and i were raised as Christians at our mother’s request.

The parish priest would come for tea and had friendly arguments with Dad. They respected each other, despite disagreeing with each other’s faiths. RICHARD SIROT,

Deal, Kent. sO, ACTORs are no longer required. For each role we simply employ someone who has life experience of the part because how can they express genuine emotions if they haven’t lived it?

What nonsense! The question should be: can the actor give a good performance?

We should rejoice in the amazing versatility of helen Mirren who has the ability and scope to play israel’s former prime minister, Golda Meir.

MARLENE KEMP, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.

Seeing the light

TRAVELLiNG to sussex by car one dark night, i dozed off in the passenger seat. i stirred to see, through the gloom, a row of lights stretching above the road in front of us. Was it a UFO (Letters)?

No, it was simply the lights of a stationary train on a bridge over the road.

Mrs R. ADBY, Reading, Berks.