Thousands of Scots pensioners face a freezing winter with no heat due to “sky high” charges for pre-payment meters, campaigners have warned.
The “inevitable” disaster has led campaigners to demand the scrapping of standing charges for pre-paid gas and electric meters, which are used by the most vulnerable people.
It is believed that thousands of elderly people - among 470,000 Scots on such meters - are now effectively “off the grid” after running up standing charge bills they cannot afford to pay.
This means no gas or electricity will be supplied until the debt on the meter is cleared - which could mean finding £150 or so despite bills already surging.
Standing charges went up by around 80 per cent in April, to around 50p a day for pre-payment meters.
Mandy Morgan, CEO of the Scottish Pantry Network, has led calls for the abolition of standing charges - or she believes thousands of pensioners could freeze to death this winter.
And she believes this so-called “self-disconnection” by poor households needs to be tackled urgently by governments in Westminster and Holyrood - as well as power companies themselves.
Morgan said: “This was a serious issue in 2018 but what we are seeing now is way in excess of that. It’s distressing that we still even have pre-payment meters.
“Having a debt of £20 or £30 could easily be enough to take someone off the grid, with the power companies deeming them to be ‘self disconnected.’
“But the deficit this year will be far greater, as the cap on standing charges is way out of control and debt is mounting every day.
“I don’t think it is scaremongering to say that many elderly people’s lives could be on the line, as all evidence shows that old people literally die from the cold, with mortality spiking significantly in the colder months.
“The spike in numbers could be off the scale if we continue on this trajectory without major help to get pensioners’ heating turned on.”
Morgan said she is convinced Scotland will see adjustments to the way communities function in winter, with “warm spaces” like village halls for people to congregate.
She said: “We have not seen anything like this in my lifetime but people will have to adapt and there will be gatherings of people in warm spaces, with warm food, just to survive the winter, given the cost of living crisis.”
She also said that many who overcome the standing charge issue may not be too much better off.
Morgan said: “It is one thing to have heating and quite another to be able to afford to turn it on.
“It’s also obviously important that people are able to cook food, as it is difficult to eat properly without that.”
Scots are expected to be among the worst affected by the energy price explosion, with official figures showing we already spend between 40 per cent and 50 per cent more on gas and electricity than those in the warmer south of England.
This is because Scotland is colder and has around 470,000 homes that use more expensive pre-paid meters, a far higher proportion than the UK average.
SNP MP Anne McLaughlin is seeking a legal ban on pre-payment meters and “self disconnections” and hopes to establish this as policy at their party conference in October.
She said: “I have to ask why the most vulnerable people, who are facing a battle for survival, are so easy to cut off.
“I just don’t understand why these pre-payment meters are allowed to very quickly cut off people from their source of heat when others on direct debit are protected by a disconnection process that can last several months.
“The reality is that pensioners could very well freeze to death all because they ran up a relatively small bill that led to them being immediately cut off.”
McLaughlin is soon to meet with representatives of the Simon Community charity, which has also supported the scrapping of standing charges.
The charity tweeted: “We’re asking that standing charges on Pre Paid meters be scrapped. These charges put people into debt when they use no electricity or gas. When they do put £10 in, it’s swallowed by the accumulated debt. Most of the people we support are on this expensive tariff.”
The price of electricity will rise on average from 28p per kilowatt hour (kWh) to 52p and gas will go up from 7p to 15p per kWh from September and will rocket again in January.
In October the bill for a “typical” small family is estimated to hit £3549.
Scots are expected to be among the worst affected, with official figures showing they already spend between 40 per cent and 50 per cent more on gas and electricity than warmer parts of the UK. This is because Scotland has a colder climate and has around 470,000 homes that use more expensive pre-paid meters, a far higher proportion than the UK average.
The Record told last week how some Scots are already going off grid to avoid soaring energy cost. Glasgow woman Carol Chambers told us she now gets by with a camping stove and solar powered lighting at her tower block home.
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