Cost of living crisis has been laid bare - Yorkshire Post Letters

THE cost of living crisis can be no longer denied. It is here and affects every household.

We now know the scale and impact. When the Governor of the Bank of England says this will be the worst decline in living standards, we do well to listen.

He knows inflation will be around seven per cent by April. That means interest rates will continue to rise apace.

Unless you never leave the house, you will have noticed that petrol prices have shot up, the price of food at the supermarket is increasing daily, rail and bus fares are up, broadband charges, so vital for home working, are said to go up by around 10 per cent, and that’s before we even come to utility costs.

Last week’s confirmation of an April increase of 52 per cent (yes, really!), about £693 per year on average, is just the start. Did you notice the small print of a further projected increase of £400 in October?

From: Andy Suter, Ampleforth.

IN reference to electricity prices rising by over 50 per cent in April in addition to an increase only six months ago, the suppliers are pleading poverty in an attempt to justify the increases.

One area the suppliers conveniently choose to ignore is the scheme known as the Smart Energy Guarantee whereby private householders who have solar panel electricity generation export to the National Grid excess energy they generate in return for an agreed price per kilowatt hour (Kwh).

The electricity I buy come April will be over 30 pence per Kwh, going up from 20 pence per Kwh. Oddly the rates on offer from suppliers to solar generators ranges between three and five pence per Kwh and no change in the rates paid by suppliers is on the cards. My current rate will be remain three pence per Kwh until at least August.

Perhaps Ofgem might like to comment on this situation and instruct suppliers to start paying a decent rate to Smart Energy Suppliers rather than ripping them off, as is currently the

case.

From: Allen Jenkinson, Lipscomb Street, Milnsbridge.

MARGARET Thatcher promised the country that her Government’s privatisation of the state-owned gas and energy industries was not about funding tax cuts for the wealthy, but about generating competition between the newly formed companies which, in turn, would lead to a better deal for the customer.

I’m glad the cost of keeping my home and family warm is a good deal, just think where we’d be if it wasn’t for her and her Tory Government.

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