Stockport Express Column – January 2016
As temperatures plunged last week many older people turned
down their heating at a time when they should have been
turning it up high.
Almost five million pensioners said they rationed their heating
during the cold spell because they could not afford higher bills.
Our pensioners are part of a generation who fear getting into
debt.
Last winter there was a staggering 40,800 excess winter deaths
among the over 65s from cold-related illness such as heart
attacks and strokes.
These awful figures represented a dramatic increase and they
highlight the imperative of us doing much more to tackle the
underlying problems.
There is growing frustration over the failure of the big six
energy companies to reduce prices despite two years of falling
energy costs. Wholesale prices have fallen by almost 50 per
cent in that time but the average household bill of more than
£1,300 a year has come down by only 14 per cent.
We have a toxic combination of some of the coldest, most
draughty homes in Europe, high energy bills and the absence
of a comprehensive energy efficiency scheme to support older
people in insulating their homes, so they can protect
themselves against the very real threat of cold to their health.