Energy prices could be a "hammer blow" to low income families
The soaring price of gas could see house bills rise
With low income families receiving £20 less on Universal Credit and this weeks worries about gas and energy, there are worries that many will end up on the streets this winter.
Adam Scorer, Chief executive of National Energy Action, said: "Its a hammer blow to some of the people on the lowest incomes in the least efficient homes. We have millions of households who walk a tightrope every year, every day, every week, of the year in balancing a tight budget against essential costs. This will knock many of them off that tightrope."
Brian Burridge from North East Homeless has said that with all this happening in the space of a few weeks many people will be struggling and could find themselves on the streets this winter.
This comes following a deal the Government has made with CF Fertilisers to restart the production of C02 could cost British taxpayers tens of millions of pounds.
The American company, who produce who produce 60% of the UK's carbon dioxide as a by-product, should be reopening their Teeside plant within the next couple of days, thanks to taxpayers' money.
There has been no mention of their Cheshire site reopening, or whether their Teeside plant will restart fertiliser production.
George Eustice, Environment Secretary, said: "It's going to be in the many millions, possibly the tens of millions, but it's to underpin some of those fixed costs. These are two big expensive plants."
The deal brokered by Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng will see the UK Government provide "limited financial support" towards CF Fertilisers' running costs to prevent a food supply shortage across Britain's supermarkets.
The agreement will be in place for three weeks while the "CO2 market adapts" to the surge in global gas prices, according to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Read More: Government strike deal to restart C02 production
How did this start?
Earlier this week, CF Fertilisers stopped production due to 'high natural gas prices' making their business 'inoperable'.
C02 is a vital ingredient within the food industry, as it is used to stun animals in slaughterhouses and to keep packaged products fresh.
Lindsay Duncan, campaigns manager for the charity World Animal Protection, has said that the rise in gas prices has "highlighted how unsustainable our current farming system is."
The campaigns manager said: "Large scale mass production of sentient beings causes suffering at an immense scale and to have to cull animals at the end of it just shows how broken this process is. We should be working towards a high welfare sustainable farming system which doesn't rely on factory farms and focuses on consuming less animal products instead."