Cancer patient Sally has been told by doctors that she must keep warm because her chemotherapy can cause severe side-effects if she becomes cold.
But with her monthly energy bills set to almost triple, she faces having to fork out a quarter of her income just to avoid further risking her health.
The pensioner, who lives on just over £800 a month, has been undergoing gruelling treatment since being diagnosed with late stage-three cancer last year.
She said: “Due to the chemo I’m on if I get cold my mouth, throat and chest can go into spasm.
“It feels like there’s a lump of Lego stuck in my throat and I struggle to breathe and can’t get the words out.
“It can also be very dangerous, as my registrar has recently told me there’s a chance this can happen to my jugular vein – that can be fatal.”
Sally from Walberton, West Sussex, is one of the generation of women who lost out when their state pension age was suddenly increased.
She gets around £202 per week from her state pension and a small private pension from her previous work in financial management for charities.
She currently pays £81 a month for gas and electricity, but has been told this will increase to £201 when her fixed-term contract finishes at the end of next month.
It means almost a quarter of her income will go on fuel.
But when she appealed to her fuel company explaining her health situation it referred her to the National Debtline.
She said: “After working for 50 years and being financially independent and not in debt my whole life, it felt like a real kick in the teeth.”
Sally, who lives alone in a two-bedroom council house, said: “I don’t know how I’m going to keep reasonably warm and be able to eat well paying this. All the worry and sheer despair is absolutely awful.”
Now Sally is trying to ration electricity and central heating in the hope she can “bank” credit to offset against future bills.
She said: “I’m in my bed with five layers on, but I’m still struggling with my breath and speech.
“I’ve tried to keep in my bedroom without the central heating on. I have a very efficient, small electric fire that gives small bursts of heat.
“If I have a shower I have to rush in and out, and cooking can be a nightmare as when my hands get cold they lose all feeling and I drop things.
“I’m constantly looking at my meter and trying to calculate how to make savings here and there. It’s just wrong.”
Single parent Rebecca has been seriously struggling to pay her rising electricity bill.
She used to work as a nursing associate in sexual health but when her older son Jamael, six, was diagnosed with autism in 2020 she had to quit.
“I wasn’t making a lot of money before but I have a lot less now,” Rebecca said.
“With my older son being autistic my younger one Joelle (three) copies him a lot. So they both want to use their devices and even have them on continuously when they’re not using them.
“Their latest thing is that there’s a monster so the light has to be on all night.
=“They’re only young so I don’t want them to have to sleep in the dark if they’re scared.”
Rebecca’s electricity bill for her three-bed flat was about £65 in November but this rocketed to £124 in December.
She was only able to pay £20 of this, falling into arrears and admitted: “I have so many bills, it’s worrying.”
The mum of two said it “does get to that point” where you choose between food and fuel. She has tried her best to make ends meet by going to her mum’s house to feed her children and juggling a £400 overdraft.
She has now moved onto a pay-as-you-go electricity tariff in a bid to pay off her debt and keep up with her new payments.
The Salvation Army has been a huge help too, assisting with furniture when Rebecca secured a housing association property after living in emergency council accommodation and referring her to “social supermarket” Community Corner in East Ham, East London.
Those eligible can join the supermarket for an annual £5 membership with a £3 donation every time they shop. A family spending £100 a week in a regular supermarket leave the store with a comparable full food shop for a few pounds. It is a lifeline for many.
Captain Lee Raggett, of The Salvation Army Stratford Corps, which has set up the social supermarket to reduce food bills for hard-up locals, said: “We are seeing an increasing number of people struggling to pay their bills.
“A lot of people use the savings they make here to pay landlords and pay off debts,” he added.
'I’d rather cut back on food to ensure I can heat my home and stay safe'
Roxanne has cerebral palsy and lives alone.
Her condition means she relies on gadgets powered by electricity to be able to live an independent life.
“The price of fuel and heating is always a concern for me,” she said.
“It’s not only about me being warm. If I didn’t have electricity I wouldn’t have access to some of my essential equipment.”
She also relies on a range of technology that helps her call for support if she has an accident, such as falling over, carry out her daily tasks and communicate with friends and family.
“These aren’t things you can turn off on the wall and just use them when you want, you always need them on because you don’t have care and support all the time,” explained Roxanne, from Bournemouth.
“With electricity it’s even above food for me. I’d rather cut back on that to ensure I can heat my home and stay safe.”
In November, she was shocked to learn her gas and electricity bills were going up from £52 a month to £74.
“I’ve been looking at cutting back on certain things to reduce my spending,” she said. “The cost of living is even higher for the disabled community. I’ve estimated costs for me have risen 20%.”
'Pet owner faces selling some of his animals to pay his energy bills'
Scott and his wife Leanne, 32, are struggling to heat their home for them and their six children and 94 animals.
He runs his own business, visiting schools, care homes and prisons with his wildlife collection, which includes snakes and skunks.
But now he fears some of the animals will have to be sold off.
Scott, from Liverpool, said: “In October I was paying around £35 a week for electric, and £25 a week for gas. Now, both of those are £50 plus, so the costs have doubled.
“I’m having jobs getting cancelled due to Covid, so if these prices continue, I don’t know what we’ll do.
“It’s freezing outside and I’m spending £155 a week, or £600 a month, just to keep the house warm and be able to make food.”
He added: “There’s people that can’t pay that, sitting in a cold house not able to heat food up.”
