Energy bills force families to cut back on food and fuel

The children charity’s latest report Priced Out, included a snapshot survey of 80 Barnardo’s services across the UK. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said families accessing their service had cut back on food to pay for energy bills, while 84 per cent said families were cutting back on heating and 60 per cent were reining in spending on clothes.

A further 94 per cent of respondents reported that high energy bills were impacting on their service users’ mental health and on their capacity to have money left over for essential items.

Barnardo’s chief executive Anne Marie Carrie said: "If we’re serious about tackling child poverty then we need to get serious about tackling fuel poverty, too.  Families should never have to choose between whether to heat their homes or put food on the table for their children."

The charity found that it is often the poorest families who use pre-payment meters and are therefore likely to be paying a premium when compared to those on other standard or direct debit tariffs.

Carrie added: "Many of the families Barnardo’s works with are bearing the brunt of companies’ unfair tariffs because they are using pre-payment meters to pay off their debt and to pay for gas and electricity. Effectively these families are being penalised by their payment method at a time when they need the most financial help.

"Energy companies have a moral duty to behave responsibly by ensuring that the poorest families are on the lowest tariffs available and that prices for pre-payment meters are brought down to the same rates as online tariffs. 

"Furthermore, we would urge the government to tackle the issue of fuel poverty by the root, by bringing forward the requirement on landlords to make their properties energy efficient for tenants."

The charity is now calling on the government, the Welsh Assembly and the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) to work with energy companies to review customer price bands, ensuring that low-income families are on their lowest tariffs.

According to Barnardo’s, local health and wellbeing boards in England should also assess geographical patterns of fuel poverty as well as the public health impact on children, young people and parents living in their localities.

The charity also supported the call made by Save the Children in January, to make energy companies give all low-income families the discounts on energy bills that they are entitled to.