'It will be a grim winter' Shropshire residents explain the measures they are taking amid rising fuel costs and winter fuel allowance cuts
Some Shropshire householders are facing a double-whammy of rising fuel costs and the means testing of Winter Fuel Allowance, which is causing many of them to worry about energy costs this winter.
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The inflation rate, which measures price changes over time, rose by more than expected to 2.3 per cent in the year to October with economists blaming rising fuel costs. Annual gas and electricity bills for a typical household went up by about £149 last month, figures show.
In addition, a further 50,000 pensioners are expected to be living in relative poverty next year as a result of cuts to the winter fuel allowance, according to the government's own figures, and it is leaving many to worry about how they will keep warm this winter.
In Bridgnorth, many residents said energy costs were on their mind.
Barbara Workman, a pensioner, said: “Everybody is worried. I've just been to the bank and my winter fuel payment isn't in there so it may have been stopped now. I just don't know."
