People across Bristol are being hit hard by the cost of living crisis, with food, fuel, energy, housing and transport costs rocketing upwards, and wages not keeping pace.
And, as the head of Ofgem announces he expects the cost of energy to heat and power our homes could rise by another £830 a year to £2,800 in October, Bristol Live has been documenting and reporting on the cost of living crisis and the impact on the city.
Yesterday (May 24) Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley told MPs the regulator is expecting an energy price cap in October 'in the region of £2,800', as the market copes with a 'once-in-a-generation' price change.
Read more: Food bank stocks diminishing as cost of living crisis hits
The price cap - the maximum amount a privatised energy company can charge for bills - has already rocketed upwards twice in the past eight months or so, triggering a cost of living crisis not seen in a generation. Energy prices pushed the consumer prices index (CPI) to 9 per cent in April, and Mr Brearley’s remarks immediately led to calls for the Government to do more to help households cope with the deepening cost-of-living crisis.
Adam Scorer, chief executive of National Energy Action, said: “Ofgem’s warning that the price cap will rise again by over £800 in October will strike terror into the hearts of millions of people already unable to heat and power their homes. It will plunge households into deep, deep crisis.
"The financial, social and health impacts are unthinkable. The UK Government simply must act and use the welfare system and schemes such as Warm Homes Discount to get significant financial support to people before winter. The ambition should be to find ways of covering the entire price increase for people on the lowest incomes," he added.
The Resolution Foundation said almost 10 million households could find themselves in “fuel stress” this winter if Ofgem’s prediction comes true. The economic think tank’s analysis suggests the number of families living in fuel stress – defined as spending at least a tenth of their total budgets on energy bills alone – will rise from five million to 9.6 million.
And Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “This news will be utterly devastating for the 6.1 million homes currently in fuel poverty and for the additional 1.7 million households who will now spend this winter struggling to keep themselves warm.
“Fuel poverty becomes a public health emergency in winter and the hidden cost of the UK Government’s continued inaction will be felt in a collapse in the mental health of those in fuel poverty, increased pressure on the NHS from those with health conditions affected by damp properties and excess winter deaths caused by cold homes.
“Unless the Government acts now, it will have blood on its hands this winter.”
Across Bristol, the city is already deep in a cost-of-living crisis.
Callers are increasingly in distress
People are increasingly suicidal as a result of the crisis. A Bristol-based charity, the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE), advises people on how to become more energy efficient and save money on their bills, as well as helping the planet. But as the crisis has deepened, a spokesperson for the charity said it has given its staff special training in suicide awareness amid an influx in calls from people struggling with their mental health as a result of the cost of living crisis.
"Callers are increasingly in distress and having to make tough choices about essentials like energy, food and clothes," they said. "We are speaking to people whose mental health is suffering because of the cost of living crisis. A few years ago, it was rare for us to speak to someone who was feeling suicidal, now it’s a regular occurrence."
You can read more about the Centre for Sustainable Energy and its warning, here.
Full-time workers visiting food banks
As the cost of everything spirals upwards, and people's pay doesn't match it, the numbers of people who run out of money at the end of the week or the month is going up - and they are increasingly finding themselves going to food banks.
“We’re definitely seeing an increase in demand, the amount of people that we’re seeing come to the foodbank has risen a lot in the last few months," South and East Bristol food bank deputy manager Mariam Detts said. "Our warehouse stock level is just getting lower and lower.
“We’re definitely seeing a lot more clients who are coming for the first time. The money that they’re getting in isn’t really reaching the end of the month.
“Our last foodbank session of the month is busier because people just can’t make their money stretch that far. A lot of people that I’ve had conversations with they’re talking about how it is the cost of living, the cost of energy bills particularly I think is having an impact on people.
“There are definitely more people who are just working and aren’t on benefits, are having to use the foodbank because the cost of living is just so high that people can’t afford to heat their homes and feed their families.
You can read more about the plight of the foodbanks here
'We've got no more advice to give'
With cuts to benefits, rents going up, food going up, fuel going up and energy bills skyrocketing, there comes a point where there's no more pennies to pinch, corners to cut or financial advice to give out. Money-saving expert Martin Lewis reached that point last month, and in Bristol it was a bit earlier.
Emma Murray, the manager of the North West Food Bank, explained how the cost-of-living crisis was impacting on people already with nothing.
She said that not only did they have more demand from people who have used up their last money paying the bills, so they don't have any for food, but the number of people who put aside food from their weekly shop to donate to the food bank has also dropped.
"Everything is coming at the same time, so there's a lot of fear out there," she said. "We can provide food and we have advice workers, but there's going to be a point where we can't give any more advice. There's nothing we'll be able to do in terms of helping people who've got such a massive shortfall," she said.
There might be a temporary lull because people can get by without putting the heating on in May, but within a few months things will be even worse, said Emma. "I think next winter's going to be pretty worrying. A few people have been saying things like with old people, we'll just find people dead in their homes," she added.
On the streets after benefits were cut
"I used to pay for my food before I had my benefits cut, but I haven't got any money at the moment," said Karl Jones. Left with no home and no money, Karl Jones, from Easton, sleeps on the streets. His one refuge is the St Mark's Community Cafe, where he explained how it's a life-saver for him and many others.
The cafe provides food, warmth, safety and support for anyone and everyone - and doesn't make people pay for meals if they can't. Before the pandemic, 68 per cent of their clients did not pay, but that has now increased to 75 per cent.
For example, the other day they served 50 people but they only had £30 in the till at the end of the day. "I think it has increased because it is much harder now and the cost of stuff has gone up," said manager Lesley Wynne. "We have kept our prices the same."
Read the full story about this amazing cafe here
"I feel guilty having a bath"
Over in Lockleaze, one of the more economically deprived areas of Bristol north of the river, student Ellen Goldensmith said the bills in her house share have gone up by almost 40 per cent. "That is more than £100 a month which is insane, it was £70 before," she continued. "I am always quite good at staying in a budget and I try to manage my money carefully. I am very worried about bills going up, it is a big thing.
"I want to be warm - everyone is entitled to a hot shower and heating in their home. I feel guilty to have a bath now and we only have the heating on for up to three hours a day," she told Bristol Live back in February.
It's also a housing crisis
With a housing shortage - and more pertinently a housing affordability shortage - landlords know they can get more rent from new tenants, especially in 'much-sought-after' Bristol. The law allows them to evict tenants for no reason, as long as they are given two months' notice, and that's now increasingly common.
The number of 'no-fault' Section 21 evictions has more than doubled in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset since before the pandemic, and housing charity Shelter say this leaves people either on the street, as hidden homeless or forced to uproot their lives and move miles away.
"Our emergency helpline is inundated with calls from people whose lives have been thrown into chaos by unexpected and unfair evictions," Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said. "If landlords follow the process, as it stands they can turf people out of their homes for no reason - and tenants are powerless to do anything about it."
You can read more about the rise in 'no-fault evictions' here.
In between a rock and a hard place
"I'm on standard PIP (Personal Independence Payment), I'm disabled I can't do a lot," said Kate, a disabled woman from Bristol. "And my car is about to die, obviously trying to save on benefits is impossible. And my fuel bill has gone from £78 to £218 a month. So, I'm kind of in between a rock and a hard place at the moment, there's no help for me anywhere,” she added.
"People are skipping meals"
Bristol West MP Thangam Debbonaire is in no doubt about what should be done - the Government should create a windfall tax on the massive billion pound profits energy companies are making at the moment, and help the hardest hit in Bristol with the money. “The Tory government had a real opportunity today to help solve the cost of living crisis," she said, the night the Government benches voted not to go ahead with a windfall tax.
"While people across Bristol are skipping meals or unable to pay bills, the Tories opted to protect oil companies’ profits instead. As the cost of energy has increased rapidly, Labour has repeatedly asked the government to help people with their rocketing bills. They could do this by taxing the sky-high windfall profits of oil and gas companies," she added.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted there would be further help to deal with the rising cost of living but he was “not attracted” by the idea of new taxes, in response to calls for a one-off levy on oil and gas firms to support struggling households. One idea which appears to have been rejected by the Treasury is a return of the £20-a-week increase in Universal Credit.
Mr Johnson said: “No option is off the table, let’s be absolutely clear about that.
"We have got to do what we can, and we will, to look after people through the aftershocks of Covid, through the current pressures on energy prices that we are seeing post-Covid and with what’s going on in Russia and we are going to put our arms round people, just as we did during the pandemic.”
Read more about where to get help in Bristol if you're struggling with the cost of living
