Age UK responds to Ofgem's energy price cap rise and package of support from Government to help with higher energy bills

OFGEM ANNOUNCE ENERGY PRICE CAP WILL INCREASE BY 54% FROM APRIL 2022

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK, said: "On behalf of older people on low and modest incomes we are bitterly disappointed by what we have heard today. With average energy bills now set to rise by a whopping £693 per year - and almost certain to increase further in a few months' time - the support the Chancellor has announced simply does not go far enough. It will still leave many of these pensioners facing energy costs surging by an extra several hundred pounds that they cannot afford to pay. What does the Government expect them to do? Forgo their heating, ration their food or go into debt? These are the only choices that millions of the less fortunate will face, if they have no savings to draw on or family to help them out. 

"Tough and stoical though they typically are, many older people will be badly shaken by the news they are hearing today. There's no doubt it will lead to many more turning their heating down or off altogether, because they will know these price surges and the Chancellor's inadequate response signals a crisis in their personal finances, with no end apparently in sight. The Government must urgently think again and do more to help them."

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