Fresh hell for pensioners! New energy bill blow will leave millions frozen stiff

As snowfall blankets the onshore and the Winter Fuel Payment is chopped for 10million pensioners, we've conscionable learned that household vigor prices volition emergence yet again successful the caller year. Just successful clip for the coldest portion of the winter.

This morning, regulator Ofgem accrued the vigor terms headdress to £1,738 a twelvemonth from January 1.

That’s an summation of 1% from the existent £1,717 headdress and volition adhd different £21 to the mean yearly vigor measure for British households.

It follows a 10% to summation to the cap, which came into unit connected October 1. This volition lone intensify the hardship millions of pensioners look successful the coming months, and makes Labour’s determination to axe the Winter Fuel Payment look adjacent much brutal than it already did.

Amazingly, that was Labour's archetypal large governmental determination aft 14 years successful the governmental wilderness.

Why connected world they thought that was the champion spot to start, lone chancellor Rachel Reeves tin say. I stake adjacent she regularly asks herself: "What was I thinking?”

Perhaps Labour was punishing pensioners for refusing to ballot for them.

Scrapping the Winter Fuel Payment was a defining infinitesimal for Keir Starmer’s Labour. Charities pass it could termination 4,000 pensioners this winter.

And inactive Keir Starmer and Reeves garbage to reinstate it.

Caroline Abrahams, manager astatine Age UK, said the losing the Winter Fuel Payment past seeing state and energy bills emergence not erstwhile but doubly volition deed pensioners hard.

She said the caller is the latest successful a bid of blows for millions of pensioners surviving connected debased oregon humble incomes, who are present “hoping against anticipation that thing volition crook up".

So what tin crook up?

Octopus Energy brag Greg Jackson has suggested pensioners struggling with their vigor bills get clasp of an electrical blanket.

Jackson means good and to beryllium fair, Octopus is shipping retired 65,000 escaped electrical blankets. But it’s not the same.

Others person aimed adjacent crankier ideas astatine pensioners, specified arsenic shoving crisp packets down radiators to bespeak vigor backmost into the room.

Has the UK truly travel to this?

Labour’s ain investigation has recovered that scrapping the Winter Fuel Payment could unit 100,000 pensioners successful England and Wales into substance poorness this year.

I thought Labour was the enactment of the poor. Not erstwhile it comes to pensioners.

Even much worryingly, analysts astatine Cornwall Insight person warned prices are improbable to autumn importantly successful the future.

The UK is much reliant connected vigor imports than astir immoderate large country, leaving america astatine the mercy of volatile wholesale state prices.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband seems hellbent connected making our concern adjacent worse, by mothballing the UK’s North Sea lipid and state fields.

That's thing nary different state is doing. It’s sheer madness.

Millions of pensioners are facing a acold Christmas and not conscionable due to the fact that of the Winter Fuel Payment. All those cost-of-living payments that erstwhile Conservative PM Rishi Sunak shipped retired person been halted. They accidental the Tories are the nasty party, but they've got thing connected Starmer's Labour.