Dear Editor,

On average, energy customers in Yorkshire, including older people on low incomes, pay among the highest electricity standing charges across Great Britain, simply because of where they live.

This postcode lottery means that today the typical household in Yorkshire is charged around £25 more in electricity standing charges annually than the average customer.

When compared to customers in London, who are charged the lowest in the country, Yorkshire households pay £68 more to access their electricity supply. This means that many of the older people on low incomes we support at Independent Age across Yorkshire are being forced to stretch already strained budgets. They are making heart breaking decisions to keep their energy bills down, from not turning on the heating to sleeping in their winter clothes.

With electricity prices expected to increase this January, many more older people in financial hardship will face both higher unit charges and standing charges, forcing them to ration their energy use to keep bills down.

We are urging the UK Government in the Autumn Budget to directly fund an increase to the Warm Home Discount from £150 to £400 and expand it to more people. This help currently only goes to people receiving means tested entitlements, so many pensioners on low incomes miss out as nearly 40% of eligible older people don’t receive the Pension Credit they are entitled to.

Long term we also need a more comprehensive energy social tariff to ensure that regardless of where we live, we can all heat our homes in winter.

Morgan Vine, Director of Policy and Influencing at Independent Age