Army veteran 'doesn't know if he'll be alive at Christmas' as he makes choice between eating and heating

Army veteran 'doesn't know if he'll be alive at Christmas' as he makes choice between eating and heating
Anna Riley pkg
Jamie  Micklethwaite

By Jamie Micklethwaite


Published: 01/04/2022

- 13:19

Updated: 14/02/2023

- 11:56

George Ford told GB News how he has lost two stone in one month and has to wrap himself in warm clothes every day

An Army veteran has told GB News how he doesn't think he'll be alive at Christmas due to soaring energy costs.

George Ford, 75, from Hull, has to wrap himself in warm clothing and can barely move round the house.


He told GB News' Anna Riley how he has lost two stone in one month because he has to choose whether to heat his house or to eat.

He said: "I sit here until about 10 o'clock with no light on.

null

"I make a flask of coffee or tea to last me all the time so I'm not using so much but my bills never seem to go down, I can't afford it.

null

"I know the things I suffer, COPD, heart trouble, I've got no feeling in my hands or my legs, I don't think I'm going to be alive by Christmas because I can't afford to keep myself warm."

He added: "I'll be honest, I just feel like dying."

Despite his own plight, George volunteers at the Beannie Street foodbank and says he feels sorry for other pensioners hit by the rise in energy prices.

He added: "I won't take anything from the foodbank because there's families that need it, there's children that need it more than I do."

The biggest jump in domestic energy bills in living memory has come into effect as charities warn that 2.5 million more households are set to fall into “fuel stress” and supplier websites remained unresponsive to customers.

As a 54% increase to Ofgem’s price cap hit bills, the Resolution Foundation think tank said the number of English households in fuel stress – those spending at least 10% of their total budgets on energy bills – was set to double overnight from 2.5 to five million.

Resolution Foundation senior economist Jonathan Marshall said: “Today’s energy price cap rise will see the number of households experiencing fuel stress double to five million.

“Another increase in energy bills this autumn hastens the need for more immediate support, as well as a clear, long-term strategy for improving home insulation, ramping up renewable and nuclear electricity generation, and reforming energy markets so that families’ energy bills are less dependent on global gas prices.”

Citizens Advice said around five million people would be unable to pay their energy bills from April, even accounting for the support the Government has already announced.

It warned this number would almost triple to one in four people in the UK – more than 14 million – if the price cap rises again in October based on current predictions.

You may like