Many rural Isle of Wight households that rely on oil, bottled gas, coal and wood to heat and cook are facing rapidly rising bills, local charity The Footprint Trust is warning.
Those alternative fuel sources are not covered by Ofgem’s increased price gap and can be more expensive than mains supply.
There are calls on the government to help 14% of UK households who are ‘off-grid’, without access to mains gas, which is generally the cheapest form of heating. Domestic oil prices have more than doubled in price per litre compared to this time last year. The wholesale price of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) has also doubled and these costs are being passed onto bottled gas customers too.
On the Island, some 40% of households are without mains gas, 1,900 of which use oil to heat their homes. Around 13,000 of Isle of Wight homes have an energy performance rating of E or worse.
Fuel poverty effects between 10-14% of homes on the Isle of Wight, higher in some rural areas, notably South Wight with old poorly insulated housing stock alongside expensive fuels.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (2020) highlighted the issue of rural coastal poverty in their report, identifying the Isle of Wight and Torbay as 2 of the areas to be economically hit the hardest, post-COVID. This was without any reference to the unpredictable energy price increases, which have added to the financial burden of low-income households.
This is why we should never have stopped fracking.
We do not have gas and our electric bill has risen from £159 pm to £433 pm
we are on a low income no idea how to pay it
Same for us Claire,electric heating is a killer.
Use the child allowance of £20 pw per child or the £100+ per child per week tax credits. It is not paid to pay for foreign hols, large cars, spray tans, nails designer clothes etc
Art you clearly have no idea about finance or bringing up a family in the current climate. As for £100 pw per child tax credits, sounds lovely but doesn’t exist.
I wouldn’t worry about him.
He still lives at home with his mother whom he married.
That’s your autobiography
We have both. Everyone’s talking about the price of gas going through the roof, but our electricity has already shot up and we don’t use it for heating, hot water or the cooker. It’s truly awful and our mp and government must take action.
Good shout.
The government MUST scrap all green taxes and Vat on all fuel,
at least in the short term.
Global warming will have to wait a few more decades, as it is only the working class that suffers, as per normal.
Ring The Footprint Trust on 822282 fir help and information…