Charity's pledge to help people worried about their heating bills

The retired pub landlady, who lives near Llangollen and suffers from heart and breathing problems, had been turning on the heating for just two hours a day, wearing six layers of clothing and boiling water on a camping stove after receiving the massive bill.

South Denbighshire Community Partnership (SDCP) helped set up a hydro-power electricity generating scheme in Corwen two years ago and are now ready to offer up to 20 places on it to eligible people struggling in fuel poverty in the Dee Valley.

Its chief executive officer Margaret Sutherland said: “We jumped on this case immediately.

“I was really worried about this lady because of the effect this bill was having on her mental health and because of the danger to her physical health – she has been boiling water for hot drinks on a camping stove in her kitchen instead of using an electric kettle.”

The pensioner, who has not been named, said she had never had problems with her electricity bills until she was moved to a new old person’s bungalow last November.

She used to put £40 into her pre-payment meter every week to cover her electricity use but the new system doesn’t allow her to do that.

“The air-source heating system seemed twice as expensive as it was before in my previous home which was only a few doors away. It was as if I was paying for someone else’s electricity as well.

“I was using a camp stove to boil water because every time I turn the cooker or the kettle on the meter was going up and up," she said.

“I’ve never had mental health problems before but I just felt myself going down and down and down every day.

“I didn’t want to go to my grave knowing that I owe that money – it was going to take me years to pay nearly £700 at £6 a week.”

The grant-funded SDCP has helped people claim unpaid benefits, introduced community transport along the Dee Valley, run a meals-on-wheels service and even pioneered its own hydro-electric power scheme.

It uses water from the Pen y Pigyn Reservoir to drive a turbine in the town to supply up to 40 homes with heating and light and is making 20 places on that list available to those in fuel poverty.

Margaret Sutherland said: “The key message I want to get out is that if people have any concerns about their energy costs then they can come to us.

"We can make the calls to those phone lines that keep you hanging on for ages, ask you to press different buttons and shuffle you from one call-taker to another.

“We can look at the bills and we can help with other issues like how to operate a heating system properly and efficiently.

“There are grants and schemes available and we know all about them and we can access them on behalf of people who are eligible."

For more information contact SDCP on 01490 266004.