By Sylvia Hui, LONDON UK
Jennifer Jones keeps feeding
money into her energy meter, but it never seems to be enough. And when she
can’t pay, she feels the impact immediately.Jennifer Jones
The power in her London home
has gone off suddenly three times recently, once when her partner was cooking
an egg.
Like millions of people,
Jones, 54, is struggling to cope as energy
and food prices skyrocket during Britain’s worst cost-of-living crisis
in a generation. The former school supervisor has health problems and relies on
government benefits to get by, but her welfare payments are nowhere near enough
to cover her sharply
rising bills.
“I’ve always struggled, but
not as much,” she said. “Everything is going up. I can’t even pay my rent, my
council tax, I can’t afford to do anything. … I keep asking myself, what am I
supposed to do?”
And things are getting worse.
U.K. residents will see an 80% increase in their annual household energy bills,
the country’s energy regulator announced Friday, following a record 54% spike
in April. That will bring costs for the average customer from 1,971 pounds
($2,332) a year to 3,549 pounds.
The latest price cap — the
maximum amount that gas suppliers can charge customers per unit of energy —
will take effect Oct. 1, just as the cold months set in. And bills are expected
to rise again in January to 4,000 pounds.
To blame for the increase is
the soaring
price of wholesale natural gas triggered by Russia’s
war in Ukraine, which is driving up consumer prices and roiling
economies across Europe that rely on the fuel for heating homes and
generating electricity.
That includes the United
Kingdom, which has the highest
inflation rate among the Group of Seven wealthiest democracies and
seen disruptive
strikes for months as workers
push for pay to keep pace with the increasingly expensive cost of
living.
The energy increases, together
with rapidly
rising food costs, are expected to push inflation above the 40-year high of
10.1% recorded in July and trigger
a recession later this year, the Bank of England has predicted. Charities,
public health leaders and even energy firms warn of catastrophic effects
on poorer
people already struggling to afford essentials as wages lag behind.
Jon Taylor, who helps Jones
and others at debt counseling charity Christians Against Poverty, said growing
numbers of people who have never had debt problems are turning to the group’s
helpline.
“What I’m seeing a lot of at
the moment is personal tragedies, losing loved ones, emotional health
problems,” he said. “The pressure of not knowing how to pay the next bill or
having enough food to survive just accentuates whatever they’re already going
through.”
About 1 million low-income
households have had to take on new or extra debt to cover an essential bill,
according to a May study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a nonprofit
focusing on U.K. poverty.
The drop in living standards
is “of a scale we haven’t seen for many decades,” said Rebecca McDonald, the
charity’s chief economist. “It really warrants big and creative national policy
interventions in order to prevent what is a difficult year becoming essentially
a catastrophe for many low-income families.”
Britain’s
Conservative government is under heavy pressure to do more to help
people and businesses — and fast. Authorities have said they’re sending around
1,200 pounds to low-income people. Every household, no matter their financial
situation, will get 400 pounds off their energy bills this winter.
Many say that financial
support needs to be doubled — at least —and some have called for an immediate
freeze on the amount that suppliers can charge for energy. The opposition
Labour Party has called for an extension of the government’s temporary tax
on the windfall profits of oil and gas companies to help pay for
relief.
But the government has said no
further measures will be announced until the Conservative Party announces
a new
leader to replace Boris Johnson on Sept. 5. Neither Liz Truss nor
Rishi Sunak, the two politicians vying to become the next prime minister,
appear to support taxing energy giants.
Treasury chief Nadhim Zahawi
acknowledged that the increase in the energy price cap would cause “stress and
anxiety.” But he insisted the government was ready to develop more options to
support households.
“While (Russian President
Vladimir) Putin is driving up energy prices in revenge for our support of
Ukraine’s brave struggle for freedom, I am working flat out to develop options
for further support,″ he said. “This will mean the incoming prime minister can
hit the ground running and deliver support to those who need it most, as soon
as possible.”
Unions across multiple key
sectors have reacted by going
on strike to demand pay raises that keep pace with inflation. A series
of national rail strikes brought the U.K. train network to a standstill during
peak travel days this summer, and postal and port
workers, garbage collectors and lawyers have all staged walkouts over pay
disputes.
Meanwhile, a grassroots
movement called “Don’t Pay” is campaigning to gather 1 million people who will
commit to not paying their energy bills on Oct. 1 if the price hike goes ahead.
The group is hoping that mass nonpayment will force energy firms to end the
crisis.
“Everyone we speak to thinks
that the price increases we’ve seen and are going to be seeing on Oct. 1 are
beyond a joke and will push people to the edge,” said Jeffrey James, one of the
campaign’s organizers.
“We are being forced into poverty, whilst others who are already in poverty will be forced into a life-or-death situation this winter,” he added. “That is the level of discontent and despair we are talking about.” - AP
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