Imagine having to face the choice between heating your home or cooking food for your family.
These are the choices continually faced by people suffering in poverty and debt in our communities. Two thirds of our clients who are on utility meters told us that, before CAP’s help, they couldn’t afford to heat their homes. A further one in four couldn’t afford to cook a meal because they had no money to put in their gas or electric meters.
The shocking fact is that the poor are paying more for their gas and electric because they are paying on a meter. Having a meter is more expensive and it’s the poor who are paying the price — going cold on a winter’s day, unable to cook a warm meal or even wash themselves.
We are raising our concerns to utility companies now and will work with other charities to petition the Government that the poor should not pay more for their fuel.