Edited by Energy hike will cripple millions

■ I WAS recently encouraged by my energy supplier to have a smart meter installed, and I must admit, it provides a great deal of information about your gas and electricity consumption. Maybe too much at times, warning that you are exceeding your budget which tempts you to switch off when it is cold out there.

If some worried pensioners see this and do turn off their heating, it could harm their health.

Surely, the Government needs to act quickly to help people, especially the elderly and poor, cope with soaring energy bills before we see more deaths of vulnerable people afraid to leave their heating on. Cutting the VAT on household bills would be a start.

Paul Marston, Walsall, West Mids

■ My wife and I are pensioners and for more than 30 years we’ve been pay-as-you-go customers for our energy supply. People like ourselves are dream customers for the utility firms – the money is in the bank before the supply has been used, no red letters or final demands. Why, then, are they allowed to treat us so badly? Why should we have to pay more than those who can afford to pay more?

We need change and Brexit certainly wasn’t the answer as we were led to believe. I don’t believe there’s another country in the world whose citizens would have put up with a Government like this. ■ The Government must act now on the cost of living emergency and energy price woes before people are forced to pay these extortionate rises in April. Then there is the dreaded council tax hike.

I remember in 1980, Margaret Thatcher saying we would be selfsufficient in oil and gas but we all know what happened next. The energy companies were privatised and now we are all paying the price.

Millions will simply be unable to afford the predicted 50% rise in energy bills.

Dave Mellor, Warrington, Cheshire

■ During PMQs this week, the Prime Minister twice declared that the Warm Home Discount Scheme available to people on certain benefits was £140 per week when it is, in fact, £140 per winter.

Boris Johnson is a man who, as Oscar Wilde once quoted, knows the price of everything but the value of nothing. I can only assume maths is not a required subject at Eton, as most of its alumni are so wealthy they never need to add up. ■ I agree with your demand for the Government to ditch VAT on energy bills. This is simply a tax on people trying to keep warm amid soaring fuel costs.

Before we left the EU, Leavers claimed this would be one of the benefits. Well, we’ve now left so are no longer required to keep this unfair tax. Get rid of it now before people start dying of cold.

Micheal Jones, Wrexham

■ If the Government really wishes to help with energy prices then they should abolish the standing charge. I only use £20-worth of gas a year but have to pay British Gas £120 a year for the privilege. I would rather pay twice the unit price and avoid lining the pockets of greedy shareholders. ■ Why are bills being hiked when people must have used more gas and electricity than normal during the pandemic? But we shouldn’t expect the Tories to do something to actually help people – they have proved they are only capable of helping themselves.

Once again, it’s going to be a case of them and us.

James Rooney Elgin, Moray

Patrick Tracey, Carlisle

Dave Blunt, Little Dawley, Shrops

Alan Robinson, Liverpool