A care home owner faced with a 1,000 per cent rise in her gas bill this autumn says she is terrified and struggling to see how she can possibly pay it. Joyce Pinfield says that the responsibility of caring for her elderly residents weighs heavily, and she cannot bring herself to contemplate what it will mean if she has to close down the business. “I find it too horrific to think about,” she says.
Ms Pinfield, who runs Greenacres in Crowle, near Scunthorpe, said in a report filed by The Mirror, says she is desperately hoping Liz Truss will announce urgent help businesses such as hers will need to cope with the astronomical energy bills this winter. She says she is desperate for the new Prime Minister to act, having just received a quote for her new gas contract.
It has been estimated that her gas cost will rise from just over £9,000 to £105,263 on a two-year contract, a hike of 1,069 per cent. Her electricity contract, secured at the end of June, has additionally risen by 260%. She says she is "frightened" and unsure how she will be able to afford it.
