Labour has been urged to slash energy costs and reinstate the Winter Fuel Payment as Scots face another “devastating” price cap hike on New Year’s Day. Campaigners hit out at the second bills spike this winter with a further £21 added to average annual utilities costs.
It follows Ofgem’s price cap soaring by 10 per cent in October, adding £149 to the average household bill. The SNP warned some pensioners could be up to £600 worse off this winter due to the end of universal winter fuel payments and the loss of other benefits.
From January 1, a typical household will pay £1738 a year for energy – £170 more than it was before October – with bills now more than 50 per cent higher than pre-Covid times. Energy bills have skyrocketed due to the war in Ukraine and the resultant gas price shock, sparking.
Despite coming down from their brutal peak in 2021-22, they’ve remained significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels while Scots have also lost out on earlier emergency government support. It comes as the country has faced a deep freeze this week, with a cold snap sending temperatures below freezing in parts of Scotland and snow forecast over the weekend.
Derek Mitchell, CEO at Citizens Advice Scotland, said: “The reality is that any increase in energy costs is bad news. Energy prices remain too high and force people into impossible situations.
“It limits choices when it comes to bills and household spending, often leading to people rationing or stopping the use of heating completely. As the days get colder and darker, especially over the past week, thousands across Scotland face the misery of living in a cold home, impacting both their physical and mental wellbeing.
“Across our network, the average person seeking debt advice has £2500 of energy-related debt with many on low incomes. And unfortunately, our energy markets are broken. Urgent and targeted solutions including a social tariff and debt write off schemes are needed to help people not only stay warm but have a realistic way to pay debts back.”
Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, hit out: “As the temperatures plummet, a fourth winter of the energy bills crisis looms large in people’s minds. The decision to introduce a price cap change in the middle of winter was taken by Ofgem in 2022 and was described as an inhumane policy at the time.
“No wonder it has been opposed by campaigners ever since as households will have to find more money to keep themselves warm at the worst possible time.”
Warm This Winter spokeswoman Caroline Simpson said: “It’s freezing this week and now we have another price cap rise which is devastating to the 6.5 million in fuel poverty [in the UK] and all of us who will be paying 66 percent more on energy than we did before the start of the energy crisis.”
The SNP claimed Scots were £470 worse off than they should be, citing a Labour election pledge to slash bills by £300. And with the loss of the £2-300 Winter Fuel Payment for nearly a million Scottish pensioners, plus the loss of the £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment last year, the Nats insisted some older Scots would be up to £600 worse off.
MP Dave Doogan blasted: “It’s shameful that some of the poorest and most vulnerable people will be forced to choose between heating and eating this winter as a result of Labour Party cuts. The Labour government now needs to reduce bills by £470 to meet its own election pledge.”
Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman said: “The Labour Party should be utterly ashamed of their decision to cut Winter Fuel Payments and to force thousands of pensioners way beyond having to choose between heating their home and eating.
“With bills soaring and temperatures plummeting, this cut is becoming more callous with every passing day. People will die because of it.”
She added: “We all have the right to a warm home, but Sir Keir Starmer is taking it away from people all over our country. It is time for him to admit he was wrong, reverse this disastrous move and protect people through a long, cold winter.”
Labour Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the UK Government “will do all we can to help people” but added: “As long as Britain remains exposed to the rollercoaster of global fossil fuel markets, we will be vulnerable to energy price rises over which we have no control.”
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