A North Lincolnshire mum is calling for more support for families with a disability
It comes as the Ofgem price cap for October to December is reduced
Last updated 25th Aug 2023
A woman from Scunthorpe is calling for more support for families with a disability as she sees energy costs more than triple.
It comes as the Ofgem price cap for October to December drops.
Lorna Fillingham cares for her mentally and physically disabled daughter who’s 13.
She says they have to keep the house at a certain temperature to make sure Emily-May doesn’t get sick or fall ill.
She also said her experience over the last year has been worrying:
“For those with a family member who's disabled, there's things that we simply cannot cut back on. So it's been a massive struggle.
"Just in the last two to three years, we've seen our energy crisis go from ÂŁ65 a month to about ÂŁ200 a month. Which is obviously quite shocking.
"I know that it, has an impact on everybody else as well, but with the issues that we have and other disabled families have, is that, as I've mentioned, you can't just turn things off.
"So, my daughter has multiple allergies. So, we have to batch cook and freeze food, which means that we need to have the freezer going., we need to have a microwave going too, alongside the oven, on multiple occasions.
"We're also hoping to get a ceiling lift - so that we can get her in and out without harming ourselves, and all of those things rely on energy too. So, it's the physical safety of disabled people that is being potentially put at risk, and all because the energy prices are as they have been."
She added that it’s not just energy prices that have risen:
“Another example from our point of view, is that, with my daughter's multiple allergies we end up buying extra food in for her, so that if we go out for a day out, we've got food that we take with us because, we can't just walk up to a café and expect the food that she can eat to be there.
"Our food bills have doubled over the last two to three years- so when we go to the supermarket to get a basic shop, what used to be ÂŁ50 spending, is now about ÂŁ100."