This October, the energy bills of my 77-year-old husband, Rajinder, and I, will increase by 2%.
Politicians are trying to reassure us after the news that the energy cap regulated by Ofgem will rise by an average of £35 a month, but when you’re already struggling like we are, every slight rise feels like a mountain.
Our bills were already high; and soon they’ll be higher still. Add on council tax, water, food – it just feels like everything is going up except the help we get.
I’ve also lost my winter fuel payment. Rachel Reeves decided only people on Pension Credit would get it, and because my pension is just £8 over the threshold, I don’t qualify.
Imagine that – £8 means the difference between help and nothing. My husband is in the same position – and the government needs to do more.
That money made such a difference. It was something we could count on each winter – a bit of relief that meant we didn’t have to worry about the heating bills. Now it’s gone – just as bills are rising again in October. It feels like Labour has kicked us when we’re already down.
I have myeloma, a blood cancer that I can never be cured of. It makes me feel the cold so much more than most people.
My body aches when the house is freezing. Doctors recommend that older people keep their homes at a minimum 18 degrees to protect their health. But how can I? Heating our house could easily cost £300 a month now. Where am I supposed to find that money?
Instead of warmth, I use a hot water bottle and an electric blanket. My husband wraps himself in blankets, too. We live in an old house that takes ages to heat, so when it gets cold, it’s bitter. We don’t deserve to live like this in our seventies.
I’ve even had to cut back on food. With my cancer, I should be eating healthy, good-quality food, but I can’t afford organic anymore. I go to the shops and feel upset, knowing I can’t buy what I need. It isn’t very comfortable.
Every day I wake up stressed, sometimes in tears. I’m 74, I’ve got blood cancer and chronic bone pain, and I still have to work part-time to make ends meet.
The last thing I need is stress, but that’s precisely what Labour has dumped on me. They said they would stand up for people like us. They said they would bring fairness. But what they’ve got is more bills, more cuts, and more misery.
We even contacted the council about the Warm Homes Discount. But again, because we don’t receive a means-tested benefit, we don’t qualify. Keir Starmer said expanding the discount would make a real difference. But some pensioners like us – the ones who worked hard, paid in all our lives – are shut out.
I feel completely betrayed. Labour said they cared about working people – we already regret voting for them, and their response to the latest increase isn’t changing our minds.
We are working people. We’ve been working class all our lives. And yet now, in our old age, we’re treated like we don’t matter. They care more about looking good on TV than about people like me who can’t afford to heat their homes.
I used to believe Labour would help pensioners, that they were on our side. But Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer have shown us their true colours.
They’ve cut support, let bills rise, and left us to fend for ourselves.
And it’s not just me. Nearly two million pensioners are already living in poverty, and the winter fuel cut alone was thought to add 50,000 to that number. That’s the reality of Labour’s choices.
They like to talk about protecting the vulnerable – but I am vulnerable, I am sick, I am old, and they’ve done nothing to protect me.
The stress of it all is unbearable. Sometimes I think, what’s the point? It feels like this country no longer wants us. I hate living like this, always anxious, always worried about money.
I even dream of selling up and moving somewhere warm, somewhere with lower bills and less stress. Somewhere we could live our lives instead of just surviving.
But here we are. Stuck. Forgotten. Betrayed.
And let me be clear: this is Labour’s fault. Not the Tories, not anyone else – Labour. The party that promised fairness, the party that asked for our votes, the party that claimed to stand for people like me.
At the end of the day, Rajinder and I are scared, sad, and anxious. But we are also angry.
Angry that after everything we’ve given, after all the years we’ve worked and paid in, we are left cold and struggling. Angry that Labour has failed pensioners – with this energy price increase feeling like another nail in our coffin.
It’s disgusting. It’s wrong. And I will not be silent about it.
As told to Minreet Kaur
A version of this story was published in November 2024
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
Share your views in the comments below.
