As winter nears, our governments seem to be frozen with inaction

The energy crisis has been a slow and painful burn.

In October last year, when the average energy bill rose to £1,400, thermostats across the country were turned down a smidge, an extra jumper was pulled on.

By the spring, just as we were shedding our cardigans, we saw that rise to a wince-inducing £2,000. So far, so bad.

Over the summer, alongside news reports of heatwaves and droughts, we watched with morbid fascination as things went from bad to, well, a lot, lot worse. When forecasters announced earlier this month that household energy bills are set to soar to more than £4,200 by January next year, the collective gasp from the nation could have powered a small windfarm for a year.

Boris Johnson, still just about prime minister for another fourish weeks, tried to show he was gripping the issue by unexpectedly turning up at a meeting of energy firms who had been summoned to Downing Street to discuss the cost of living crisis.

Gathered around the table were bosses from some of the UK’s biggest power companies who, The Guardian newspaper calculated, had posted recent profits totalling over £15 billion.

Here, another energy harvesting opportunity was missed as they spouted hot air at each other before leaving having not achieved much at all. This was partly, but not solely, because Johnson was regretfully having to “leave any big decisions to his successor”.

And so to the here and now. What was fairly abstract back in October last year is now zooming into sharp focus.

Last week, as the leaves began to turn, experts at York University outlined the horrifying prospect that if the UK Government raises the price cap later this year, four million Scots (that’s 73% of the population) will face fuel poverty.

Yesterday, that nightmare scenario came a step closer to reality when consultancy Auxilione predicted that the domestic price cap could spike at £6,000 per year for the average household from next April.

There is currently no price cap for small businesses but what happens when you are in the business of providing a warm and secure home for the elderly? Dr Donald Macaskill, chief executive of Scottish Care, has answered that question. He warns in The Sunday Post today that homes have closed because they can’t afford to pay rising costs, and many more will follow.

The reality is that hundreds of elderly people will be effectively made homeless, putting extra strain on our already threadbare NHS. Residents such as Margaret Kerr, and her twin sister Janette Millar, 83, both suffering from dementia, are being uprooted when they need – and deserve – stability. Their son Jim tells us the trauma of the move has already had a devastating effect on his mum and aunt.

Against the backdrop of oil giants Shell and BP’s eye-watering earnings of £10bn and £6.9bn respectively, their story is all the more sickening.

Winter is coming. And with no apparent plan in place from the UK or Scottish Governments, we are running out of time to protect our most vulnerable.