People across Lincolnshire reaching out to charities for support with energy costs
It comes as winter fuel payments have been cut despite energy bills rising in October
Charities across Lincolnshire are preparing for an increase in the amount of people they'll see coming forward with concerns around energy bills,
It comes as energy bosses met with the Chancellor yesterday to discuss support for vulnerable households this winter - as the average energy bill is expected to rise from October after Ofgem increased the price cap
At the same time, the Government is withdrawing winter fuel payments from millions of pensioner households not in receipt of benefits.
Michelle Jolly is the Chief Executive of Age UK Lincoln and South Lincolnshire - she says these could have a deadly impact on the older generations:
"Well, the ultimate risk, of course, is that people could lose their lives. You know, there are lots of conditions people live with, many conditions at home, and they need to heat their home in order for them to keep those conditions at bay, to manage them.
"If they're having to choose whether to put the heating on, or take their medications, or eat the food they need in order to keep themselves fit and well... these are decisions that we're asking all people to face into this year, and that just cannot be acceptable.
"We're seeing an increase in people reaching out to us already, we supported over 1600 people last winter with energy saving advice. We provided over 500 households with energy saving devices. So, we are trying to find other ways in which we can help people so they can afford to heat their homes and keep themselves warm and well through this very challenging winter."
Find out more about Age UK Lincolns and South Lincolnshire here.
Meanwhile Jenny Barnett is the Chief Executive of Citizens Advice in Lincoln and Lindsey and says it's a lot of families they're seeing:
"Obviously people are very worried this year - from April, we've helped almost 300 families with energy related issues, and of course, that's through the summer months, so we are expecting to see an increase in people coming to us about their energy issues as we move into the winter.
"When we look at those families we've helped, 100% were either at risk or in fuel poverty already, which means they're spending at least 10% of their income on energy. The biggest queries we are seeing are around prepayment metres, and people struggling to pay their bills and we're expecting even more people to fall behind as the increase in the energy price cap comes in.
"People are very worried about how all of these changes will affect them. They've got the energy price cap, there's the winter fuel payment and there's a lot of changes - coupled with the cost of living crisis - people are coming to us in despair, they're very worried about how they're going to get through this."
You can reach out to Citizen's Advice through the website.
There service in Mid Lincolnshire has also sent us their figures for how many people they've been supporting, which shows between January first and today, there've been over 350 clients with energy related cases, and almost 1450 energy related issues called in.
They revealed to us the top issues were requests for fuel vouchers, help with prices or tariffs and priority service registers.
So far this year, they've achieved £321789 in financial outcomes for energy clients.
Executives from Centrica, EDF, E.On, Octopus Energy, Scottish Power, Good Energy, Rebel Energy, Ovo, So Energy, Ecotricity and Utility Warehouse were expected at the roundtable event with the Government yesterday.
Industry body Energy UK, the regulator Ofgem, and Citizens Advice also attended the meeting with energy consumers minister Miatta Fahnbulleh.
The average household energy bill is to increase by £149 from October after Ofgem said it was increasing its price cap as homes approach the winter months.
At the same time, the Government is withdrawing winter fuel payments from millions of pensioner households not in receipt of benefits.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves defended that decision, which she blamed on a £22 billion black hole in the public finances inherited from the Conservatives.
"It's not a decision I wanted to make," she said.
"It was a decision that I had to make in incredibly challenging circumstances to put our public finances on a firm footing."
The Government's policy on winter fuel payments will stop the handouts for people in England and Wales who are not in receipt of Pension Credit or other means-tested benefits.
It is expected to reduce the number of pensioners in receipt of the up to £300 payment by 10 million, from 11.4 million to 1.5 million, saving some £1.4 billion this financial year.
Sir Keir Starmer has faced demands to U-turn on the plan, with pressure inside his party, from political opponents and from campaigners.
Charity Age UK said it "strongly" opposes means-testing the payment because it means "as many as two million pensioners who badly need the money to stay warm this winter will not receive it and will be in serious trouble as a result".
Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: "In real terms, the changes this winter mean that some older people will face the highest energy bills on record.
"This has the potential to create a public health emergency which will actually create more pressure on the under-pressure NHS which the Prime Minister says he wants to fix."
The meeting on Wednesday covered the measures suppliers will take this winter to help those already in energy debt and stop others from falling into it.
Ministers hope and expect suppliers to commit to going substantially further than the voluntary measures they offered last winter.
Ofgem's decision on the price cap will see it increase by 10% from the current £1,568 for a typical household in England, Scotland and Wales to £1,717.
It is, however, around £117 cheaper than the cap in October last year, which was £1,834.
Rising prices in the international energy market, due to heightened political tensions and extreme weather events, were the main driver behind the decision.
It means households will be going into the colder months facing higher bills than since April when the cap was lowered.
Emma Pinchbeck, chief executive of industry body Energy UK, said the sector provided "£54 million of discretionary support, on top of the more than £2 billion worth of mandatory schemes" for vulnerable households.
But she called for green policy costs to be shifted from bills to general taxation to help ease the burden.
"We've got record levels of debt amongst our consumers. It is, if anything, worse than any other time in the crisis," she said.
"And so we've been advocating quick things to do, and we think a smart thing to do would be to move a portion of the policy costs off electricity bills into general taxation to rebalance some of the costs between electricity and gas, and to, lastly, double the warm homes discount."
The meeting comes after an influential committee found efforts to reduce fuel poverty had flatlined over the past five years.
Committee on Fuel Poverty chairwoman Caroline Flint said: "For too many low-income households, the unaffordability of bills, especially in the coldest months, is all too real.
"We foresee that targeted financial support, possibly including the use of social tariffs, for vulnerable and low-income households may be needed for some years to come."