[jambutty]

The worst of all this is that the people most likely to struggle are the less well off.

Many do not know how to or cannot be bothered to budget for a quarterly bill or Direct Debit so they have card meters. Guess which is the most expensive tariff? Surprise, surprise it is card meters.

However on the bright side the energy companies have been asked, asked mind you not told, to try and get people off card meters and onto cheaper tariffs.

I know a few people who use card meters and not one has had any communication from their energy company to suggest a cheaper tariff.

I guess we are going back 50 years or more when central heating was just a dream for most people and the only form of heating they had was one coal fire in the living room that also heated the water. Posh people had a gas fire and one in the front room as well and maybe even in the bedrooms.

Winters were colder than they are these days with ice on the INSIDE of bedroom windows. But we survived and we learned to undress for bed in double quick time before diving into a cold bed. It was the same getting up in the morning. No lingering.

My energy bill (gas and electric) for the quarter up to June last year was £110 for a one bedroom ground floor flat. Just five radiators, one each in the living room, bedroom, lobby, washroom and kitchen, which is always turned off.

With the pending increases last year I did some economising and my energy bill for the same period this year was £143.

Ah well! I’m lucky. I have a recliner arm chair so with an extra jumper on, a blanket around my legs and the recliner lifting my feet off the deck, I will survive next winter. Maybe I could warm my frozen hands over a candle.