A woman skips meals and makes tea without boiling a kettle because she is so worried about soaring energy costs.
Sonia Lawrence spoke about her fears for winter as she tries to cut back on her expenses.
The 62-year-old, who lives alone in Wandsworth, London, is so concerned about the cost of living crisis that she broke down in tears.
She only eats a proper meal when visiting a day centre midweek.
But otherwise she omits meals and sticks to basic foods such as bread, reports MyLondon.
Sonia said: "I'm just scared. Sometimes I don't eat, I eat a meal here. Because I'm scared I want to make sure I've got a roof over my head, I pay the rent, first priority."
She has tried to reduce costs by buying basic food.
"I just buy bread, I can buy brown bread, I'll have toast," she said.
"I can't afford cheese though, that has gone up. I just buy milk and have a hot drink."
In a further attempt to cut costs Sonia turns on the hot tap on to make a coffee rather than boiling the kettle.
The mum-of-three, whose children have all left the nest, has retired for health reasons and is on fixed benefit income.
She is worried about the rising cost of energy because her home runs on electric.
She said: "I don't even know how I'm going to manage, my place is all electric. I'm really scared.
"My place is all electric, no gas. If I can't pay what's going to happen? What would happen to me.
"Summertime it's hot like this you're alright, what happens when winter comes."
Sonia is already making changes to her daily life and going without to cut costs.
The rising price of essentials and energy needed to cook food means Sonia is skipping meals and not eating properly, which is impacting her health.
She said: "Sometimes I'm making myself ill because I'm not eating properly. I won't eat anything this evening. If I put on the cooker it's all-electric.
"If the electricity goes, what are we going to do? You see it, all the money I put on, as soon as I boil the kettle you can see it going."
To avoid having to use the energy in her home Sonia will likely have to find somewhere else she can spend the days.
She said: "I probably have to go somewhere where they got electric and just sit there because what am I going to do, I can't afford, I'm just about buying... milk has gone up....everything. I am budgeting, budgeting, budgeting, budgeting."
While Sonia has the support of the staff at Age UK Wandsworth to help, she has never wanted to admit just how much she's struggling because she doesn't want to "be a burden".
She broke down in tears as she said: "I am so seriously scared.
"I can't cook something. I don't have it. So I just go without.
"I find it hard but I don't tell anyone I just suffer. I'm so scared, I put on a jolly face but deep down inside, it's hard.
"I get money and then it's not there, so I suffer. I'm scared to tell anyone. It's hard, it's really hard. If I buy soap to wash clothes, that's gone up.
"Everything has gone up. Sometimes my fridge is so bare. I just can't afford it. So I'd rather not eat."
She has faced further stresses recently after being targeted with 'scam' emails demanding money that she didn't have.
She had first received one of the letters claiming to be demanding owed money for Vodafone in May and had ignored it, but then received another.
Sonia said: "I was a bit scared because I know I don't owe anything. I was getting panicked, worried sleepless nights.
"It's playing on my depression because all night I'm worried about [it].
"At one point I didn't even want to open the door. Workmen came and I thought they looked like bailiffs through my spy hole so I didn't open my door. That just made me so scared.
"Cause I was thinking do I pay that money, but I don't owe them any money so are they going to come into my door and take my stuff out that's what I was scared of."
When she received another letter she showed it to the staff at Age UK, and they were able to help her contact Vodafone who clarified that she did not owe any money.
Once she had contacted Vodafone on their live chat service, it put her "at ease".
The fake demands for money worsened Sonia's financial fears and made her unwell with worry.
She said: "It made me so scared, I don't eat, I was getting myself ill a lot because I was so frightened if I was going to get more of this letter, if they're going to come to the door."
Sonia didn't send any money to those claiming to be Vodafone, but she said: "I just didn't have that amount to send."
