Hundreds of people have turned to online crowdfunding campaigns in an attempt to pay their soaring energy bills.
New figures from the online platform GoFundMe show that there has been a 680 per cent increase year-on-year in people mentioning “energy bill” or “energy bills” in their fundraisers - rising from tens to hundreds of campaigns.
One food kitchen, Waste Not Want Battersea, turned to the platform after they saw their energy bills triple. The charity collects high-quality unwanted food from suppliers at New Covent Garden Market and either redistributes it or cooks meals with the produce for those in need.
Hadas Hagos, who runs the project, said its cooking hub was costing a lot to run because of gas and electric bills surging.
“Everything that the people we are supporting are going through, we are going through in another way,” she said. “We are trying to find creative ways to raise funds, such as GoFundMe. We have to be creative to survive.”
The charity’s energy supplier has just charged it £4000 for five months’ use and staff don’t know where they will find the money to pay for it. “It’s a panic time. I set up the GoFundMe when I was panicking,” Ms Hagos said.
“[The energy bill] was £200-300 a month before and now it’s nearer £900. We just checked our bill and there is £5900 to be paid.”
The rising costs have also come at a time when there has also been a “big increase in need” for their services, she added.
“It is very scary. We used to have queues before we started, but never like this. You see the desperate need. That’s why we are inspired to keep going.”
Are you in a similar position? Contact holly.bancroft@independent.co.uk with your story
At Hackney foodbank, operating costs have risen dramatically due to soaring food prices and falling donations.
For the year to October 2022, it spent £6020.49 on gas alone. That was compared to £2,232.44 for the same period last year - roughly a 170 per cent increase, said CEO Pat Fitzsimmons.
Demand for the service has also risen dramatically, but food donations have dropped by over 50 per cent.
Similarly, Gloucester foodbank has seen a 71.5 per cent increase year-on-year in the cost of gas, adding an extra £1950 to its costs, treasurer Dave Walker said.
The food bank makes use of the government Energy Price Relief scheme but staff are worried that, if the government does not extend the scheme after 23 April, the electricity bill could soar.
“As a charity, I would rather spend money on food and not on gas or electric. If these prices are to continue at these levels for any length of time we would have to consider reducing our operating capacity by 1 or 2 days a week in order to remain financially viable,” Mr Walker added.
Families are also suffering from soaring costs, with 36 per cent of households with children struggling to afford energy bills, according to a survey of over 2000 adults by Comparethemarket.
The uplift of the government’s energy price guarantee from £2500 to £3000 in April is also likely to push families further into the red, the research found.
Nearly two-thirds of families with children, 63 per cent, said that they won’t be able to afford the price hike.
Director of policy at National Energy Action (NEA), Peter Smith, responded to the GoFundMe figures, saying: “There has been some welcome intervention from the government, but statistics like this show clearly that people have not received enough support.”
He warned: “Those on the lowest incomes and in the leakiest homes are rationing their heating to dangerous levels during this severe cold snap. People should not be forced to choose between heating and avoiding energy debt, but this is the reality for so many households.”
Mother-of-two Aysha, 30, was recently supported with a £98 grant from the NEA, but she is still worried about how she will afford her heating.
She works part-time as a prison officer in Greater Manchester and gets a top-up from Universal Credit.
“I have a disability and my 10-year-old son is autistic. Most of my money goes on heating,” she said.
“My son has low sodium so in the winter he can get really poorly. We used to have [the heating] on all the time for his health, but unfortunately, this winter energy prices have increased and we haven’t been able to put the heating on as much as I would like to.
“He gets bronchiolitis, which can be really serious for him. It made him really ill to the point that he is being sick, has a high temperature, chesty cough, and is struggling to breathe.”
When Aysha moved into her house, she had just been discharged from hospital and decided to update the name on an old tenant’s gas bill rather than get a new contract. She hadn’t realised the previous tenant was in debt to the energy company.
“Now I’ve incurred their debt and I’m still having to pay that off. We just put the heating on for an hour to heat up the house when the kids come back from school. We have it on for half and hour just before they wake up,” she added. NEA are trying to help her pay off the energy bill.
Aysha also got into rent arrears and had been threatened with eviction, until a charity stepped in and paid her debt for her.
“People shouldn’t have to fundraise to meet their basic needs, especially in a year when energy companies have doubled or tripled their profits in some cases,” Stuart Bretherton, coordinator at the Energy For All campaign, said.
“Tackling fuel poverty would mean the government ensuring that everyone can access and afford enough energy to cover their necessities for survival.”
