Long term energy support needed says Scarborough veterans charity
Parliament will sit to hear details a mini-budget today from the Chancellor
A mini-budget is set to be announced by the Chancellor today.
Parliament will sit to hear details of the fiscal event from Kwasi Kwarteng.
Earlier this week, the Government announced energy bill help for businesses and charities for six months from the 1st October.
Dorinda Wolfe-Murray is the Chief Executive of Firstlight Trust, a veterans support charity which has a cafe hub in Scarborough.
She said there needs to be a long time solution rather than for six months: "The major bills are around heating and that will help. However, that's not going to stop us looking very hard at what we can do to reduce our consumption of energy, because as a charity in receipt of public funds, to say we're extravagant with those funds would be dishonourable.
"It has a massive impact on us to do with those we support. Certainly we're seeing the initial shock of the bills going up has had an impact on those who put their bills and paying them as an absolute priority, so to suddenly be caught short on that is absolutely horrendous."
Dorinda added that people need to look at reducing their energy consumption too if they can and explains what else she wants to see: "Long term investment into renewables, which means battery investment. The grids can't hold the power from the wind and that's the type of thing that genuinely would make a massive difference. It would be hugely helpful for us."
"We've already started to research the best type of heaters to try and insure that the cafe themselves are at least above freezing point. I've actually walked into hubs, particularly last winter, and we had to leave heaters on overnight to stop things freezing on the inside of the windows because there's no double glazing. We don't have thick curtains and we have big windows."