The Cost Of Living Crisis Continues As Britain Prepares For A Harsh Winter
Image Credit: BBC News
Britain has been facing an extreme rise in the cost of living for many months now and as temperatures drop to below freezing, many Britons throughout the country are bracing themselves to be spending even more on gas and electricity in a bid to keep their homes warm.
As gas and electric prices continue to rise, people all over Britain are having to ask themselves if the high cost of heating their homes is worth the price. Reports by the House Of Commons library show that household energy bills rose 54% in April of this year, a further 27% rise in October and is expected to once again rise by 20% in April of 2023. Britain is currently set to face a very harsh winter with temperatures expected to drop to -10 in the coming days in some parts of the country, snow and ice are also expected to arrive along with the freezing weather. Forecasters have also issued multiple yellow weather warnings throughout the country.
Many people throughout Britain have turned to wearing extremely thick jumpers and fleeces indoors while also being wrapped in a blanket, in an attempt to keep themselves warm to avoid paying high energy prices. Alternatively, some Britons are taking extreme measures such as avoiding being at home as much as possible, working and spending a large amount of their time at places such as cafes, libraries and other locations where a warm environment is freely accessible. However, these options are not realistic for many across the country.
I spoke with Mariam Aziz, 28, a single mother from Coventry with three children. She claims the past 10 months of her life have been the hardest time of her life and that she has faced many obstacles to simply survive. She spoke about how her income does not cover her household bills and the steps she has taken to try and cover the expensive energy bills.
Image Credit: This Is Money
“I just don’t understand how a government can care so little about it’s citizens, I am a single mum and I also work 30 hours a week at a supermarket while the kids are at school and I still can’t seem to provide for them, even with the child benefits I receive I still struggle every day to survive and give my kids a good quality of life.”
Mariam also explained to me that she was previously on universal credit in order to make time to look after her children and household chores, but she now has had to get a job and spend less time taking care of her kids and household because the universal credit payments were not making ends meet.
“I live in a council property so my rent is £400 a month, I spend around £200 a month on food for me and my kids and other necessities, but when I add my electricity and gas bill my total spending for the month comes up to nearly £1000, I simply can’t afford that whilst also trying to live a decent life and provide my kids with a good quality of life, leaving the heating off is not a choice for me because I have children and I do not want them to get sick because I can't afford to stay home and look after them because I work while they're at school.”
“I try my hardest to budget and buy the cheapest food, with winter here now we need the heating on constantly, so I’m trying to lower my cost of food, I go to Tesco at 8 pm at least every two days just to buy some of the yellow label discounted food items, however, I still do my weekly food shop at Lidl or Aldi because they have the cheapest prices.”
Image Credit: Gov.uk
“All we want is some help, especially me and other single mothers, paying these high prices just to have the basic right of heating our homes is absurd, the £66 a month discount on energy until April is ridiculous and not enough at all, if the government want to make a real change they should increase the discount to at least £150.”
The government announced that from October this year until April 2023, all qualifying households would be receiving a £400 payment in six instalments to assist with rising energy bills. The payment has been criticised throughout the country with many describing the government's attempt to assist with high energy bills as ‘doing the bare minimum‘.
“I just want to know what it’s going to take for the government to actually make a real difference, with winter already here and the weather getting even worse I’m very scared of how much my bills are going to rise, heating the house with a gas boiler is very expensive so I tried to use an electric plug-in heater and that was just as equally as expensive, I always keep the heating off when the kids are not at home too, just to try to make a difference.”
Throughout Britain, many have been calling for action to be taken to lower energy bills. Many Britons across that country have also been criticising the government's plan to send 2.3 billion pounds to Ukraine for military aid whilst ‘it’s citizens are freezing and suffering’.Some individuals have even taken it upon themselves to try to make a difference.
Kamari Johnson, 21, a university student describes himself as an aspiring social activist and says he has been closely monitoring the cost of living crisis and thinking of actions he can take to try to make a change in the country and lower the energy prices.
“The whole situation is very sad” he explained, “Now with winter here the forecasters are predicting the weather will hit very low temperatures and I am very worried especially about the elderly and kids as they are the most vulnerable when it comes to the cold weather.”
Kamari claims he has emailed multiple members of parliament asking them to lower energy bills and make affordable gas and electricity accessible to everyone.
“I want to make a change and now with winter here and the situation getting worse I know that time is of the essence, I have been emailing members of parliament and trying to put pressure on them to make a change, but none of them ever respond to me though and I don’t understand why.”
“The British government need to realise that If they do not make a change soon they will start seeing the consequences of their actions, there should be caps placed on energy providers so they can’t continue to rise their prices above a certain amount, these energy providers are simply going to keep increasing the price of energy until it's even less accessible to the normal working class person.”
“The consequences and the worst case scenario is that people will start dying from hypothermia and other cold body temperature-related illnesses, it might not have been a major issue in the warmer months such as July and August but now people's lives are actually at stake, the government have to do better and I will continue emailing these members of parliament for as long as I can until I see real change.”
Citizens Advice have also been releasing information on how Britons can keep their energy costs down in the winter months. Running your washing machine at 30 degrees or lower, using LED lights instead of light bulbs, turning off all plug sockets while not in use and purchasing the right curtains to keep the heat in rooms isolated is what the organisation has advised.
Image Credit: Citizens Advice
