Energy bills: Fuel cost hike puts pressure on families amid unprecedented £700 rise
Householders say they sometimes don’t eat to save money as people face cost-of-living crisis
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Families have described how they are struggling to cover their food and energy costs as annual energy bills rise by around £700.
One site manager told The Independent how he couldn’t afford to socialise any more, and a hairdressing business owner said he could not always afford meals, saying: “Sometimes I eat, sometimes I don’t”.
The £693-a-year rise in a typical energy bill will affect 18 million households, and 4.5 million customers on prepaid meters will face an increase of £708 a year.
The rising prices will double the number of households in “fuel stress” – a term for those spending 10 per cent or more of their income after housing costs on energy bills – overnight from 2.5 to 5 million in England alone, according to the Resolution Foundation think tank.
Protesters from the climate group Just Stop Oil blocked “10 critical oil terminals” across the UK this morning, as the biggest rise in British energy bills takes effect.
See below for how our live coverage unfolded.
Explainer: Energy price cap rises hit, but what other costs are going up?
The cost of living crisis will deepen for many households as energy bills are set to skyrocket due to an increase in the price cap.
However, higher energy prices are not the only way households and businesses are set to feel the pinch.
From the start of the month, a raft of tax rises and reductions in state pandemic support will increase costs for businesses and, ultimately, lead to higher prices for their customers.
Here are the tax changes which could impact your wallets:
Energy price cap rises hit, but what other costs are going up?
Households and businesses are set to feel the pinch from April.
Extinction Rebellion warns it will launch daily protests with ‘mass participation on streets’ in days
Extinction Rebellion has warned it plans to hold a fresh wave of protests next week in London which the group says will be “impossible to ignore”.
Andrew Smith, an XR spokesperson, said climate activists are planning “mass participation” demonstrations in the capital from 9 April.
The announcement came as oil terminals were forced to suspend operations after access roads were blocked by Just Stop Oil and XR protesters.
Read more about the plans from Matt Mathers here:
Extinction Rebellion warns it will launch daily protests with ‘mass participation’
Climate activists say demonstrations in London will be ‘impossible to ignore’
‘It’s pure desperation’: First time food bank users face the cost of living crisis
Food bank users are in “pure desperation” as families seek nearby churches and community centres to help cope with soaring costs, write Thomas Kingsley and Maryam Zakir-Hussain.
On the day energy price hikes took hold, struggling families told The Independent the government “does not know what hardship is” as they feel abandoned in their efforts to make ends meet.
Chanda Grant arrived at Redbridge food bank in north east London 10 minutes before closing on Friday morning with her mother and two of her three children.
“This is my first time using a food bank,” she said as she loaded her tram with bags of canned food.
Read more here:
‘It’s pure desperation’: first time food bank users face the cost of living crisis
Food bank coordinators warn of a donations decrease as the cost of living crisis hits the UK
Keir Starmer urges voters to respond to cost-of-living crisis during local elections
In case you missed it...
Sir Keir Starmer told hard-pressed voters to send a message to the Government over the rising cost of living as he launched his party’s local election campaign, writes Pat Hurst.
The Labour leader kicked off his campaign trail yesterday in a “red wall” marginal, the Bury North constituency where Tory James Daly is MP.
Read the full write-up of his trip here:
Starmer urges voters to respond to cost-of-living crisis during local elections
The Labour leader highlighted worries over paying bills, job security and crime.
‘How do we survive?’: Britons share fears of soaring bills on first day of energy bills hike
UK families have been left questioning their survival amid the biggest drop in living standards since the 1950s, write Thomas Kingsley and Maryam Zakir-Hussain.
It comes as five million households will be forced to spend at least 10 per cent of their budget on energy bills after Friday’s price cap hike, according to the latest analysis.
Business partners Yousef and Lyes, who only gave their first names said they were forced to dismiss one of their baristas as prices increase and the footfall into their east London cafe decreases.
“One cylinder of gas used to be £35 now I get it for £40,” Yousef told The Independent.
Read the rest of the story here:
‘How do we survive?’ struggling Britons ask on first day of energy bills hike
The energy cap has increased today for millions across the UK
Children raise money for food banks
Children at Cheddar First primary school in Somerset have been doing a daily sponsored run to raise money for the Trussell Trust, which supports food banks.
Opinion: Even as a Labour MP I want the Conservative government to do better by people
The government has not met the cost of living crisis with anywhere near the urgency it needed to, writes Jess Phillips:
Even as a Labour MP I want the Conservative government to do better | Jess Phillips
The government has not met the cost of living crisis with anywhere near the urgency it needed to
Insulation cuts energy bills by 40%, say campaigners
The energy bills of almost eight million households could be slashed by as much as 40 per cent if the government prioritised retrofitting the country’s draughty, heat-leaking homes, Friends of the Earth claims.
The campaign organisation says cavity-wall insulation can reduce energy consumption by up to 20 per cent, as can loft insulation.
For an average dual fuel household, the savings that could be made are around £750 a year.
New analysis by the environmental campaign group has identified the areas of the country that would most benefit from a massive programme of free loft and cavity wall insulation, broken down by both local authority area and parliamentary constituency.
Friends of the Earth is calling on the government to implement this policy as part of its forthcoming energy review.
There are 5.7 million homes across the country where loft insulation could help households make significant cost savings, and a further 5.2 million where cavity-wall insulation would have a similar effect.
‘Hundreds of thousands more disabled and sick people now in fuel poverty'
An extra 800,000 people with disabilities and/or health conditions are in fuel poverty as a result of today’s energy price rises, according to Fuel-poverty charity National Energy Action.
Many of these people use more energy because they need to keep warmer to mitigate respiratory issues or to run medical equipment, it warned.
Pensioners who feel the cold more are likely to ration their heating, too.
Sunak mocked as minimum wage rises
Chancellor Rishi Sunak says rises today in the national living and minimum wages will put £1,000 a year more into full-time workers’ pay packets.
Critics mocked, pointing out the rises would be more than offset by the soaring cost of living.
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