Nearly one in four adults in Britain do not plan on turning on their heating this winter as energy bills are set to skyrocket, The Independent reported on Monday, citing researcher Savanta ComRes.
According to a survey conducted by the firm on July 29 and 30, before the new price cap was announced, the figure is even higher for parents with children under 18.
The study shows that 23% of those polled (more than 2,000 adults) said they will not turn their heating on at all. Seven in ten (69%) indicated they would switch their heating on less, and one in ten (11%) said they would take out a loan, with the latter figure rising for those with children under 18 (17%).
The research comes amid warnings of a dire winter, as the energy price cap is set to rise 80% by October, pushing the average household’s yearly bill up from £1,971 to £3,549 ($2,300 to $4,150).
According to The Independent, the Liberal Democrats, which commissioned the survey, warned that British families are being forced to make difficult choices, with the country “on the brink of the worst cost-of living-crisis in a century.”
“Families and pensioners across the country are making heartbreaking decisions because the Government has failed to save them,” the Liberal Democrats’ Cabinet Office spokesperson, Christine Jardine, said, adding, “It is a national scandal that parents are having to choose between heating their homes and feeding their children. It shouldn’t be like this.”
Jardine warned that an “economic catastrophe” is “just a month away,” placing the blame on the “zombie Government in Westminster, and two leadership contenders living on another planet.”
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