SWNJcap – by Amy Reast
A mum-of-five dubbed the nation “ripped-off Britain” after learning the average energy bill will rise by £111 a year.
Ofgem announced today (February 25) its new price cap of 6.4% – the equivalent of an extra £111 a year for the average household.
Laura Caine, 40, has five children aged 19 to 10 – two of whom have disabilities – and says she already uses buy-now-pay-later schemes to buy food.
Carer Laura, who lives in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, gets £1k a month in universal credit, while her husband earns a modest monthly salary as a games programmer.
But she often uses the buy-now-pay-later app Klarna to pay for her weekly shops, and has previously relied on food banks for her family.
She was disappointed to hear of Ofgem’s plan to increase energy bills by 6.4% in April – saying “something needs to be done.”
Laura dubbed the nation “ripped-off Britain” as she claims energy companies focus on “taking from the poor, to give to the rich.”
She said: “When I heard the price cap was rising, I thought ‘not again’ – it’s always rising.
“Money is getting tighter for everyone with energy bills going up as well as the cost of food.”
Laura said she and husband Martin Caine, 42, are making sure they’re well stocked with hot water bottles and thick duvets for her children.
They anticipate the rise will mean that they can’t afford to have the heating on as much, if at all.
She said: “We just can’t afford it.
“I don’t know how we’ll pay for the increase – it’s quite a lot – and our water rates have gone up a lot too.
“There will be more homeless people as a result of this rise, and it’s so sad.
“There will be more hungry kids.
“It’s disgusting – in a few months’ time we’ll hear about how much the energy companies got in profit as a result of this.
“They’re taking from the poor and giving to the rich, and something needs to be done.
“It’s like that program Rip Off Britain, we should be called ‘Ripped-Off Britain’ because we’re being ripped off for everything.”
