Roger Godsiff MP supports new campaign to help energy customers ‘Plug the Debt’ and asks the Chancellor to reverse winter payment cuts.
Posted by Roger Godsiff, MP for Birmingham, Hall Green, at 15:55, Mon 5 December 2011:
Hall Green MP, Roger Godsiff, has welcomed the joint Consumer Focus/Citizens Advice campaign ‘Plug the Debt’ by writing a letter to the Chancellor requesting that he reverse cuts to Winter Fuel payments.
In a letter to the Chancellor, George Osborne, ahead of his Autumn Statement, Roger Godsiff MP said: “Rising fuel bills are a real concern for families in Birmingham Hall Green. People are worried about how they will pay to keep their homes warm this winter. I am particularly concerned for vulnerable groups, such as pensioners, especially as energy prices have increased so much this year. With around 25,000 dying each year from cold related causes, there is no room for complacency on this issue.”
With temperatures starting to plummet, many people face the challenge of how to afford to keep their home warm this winter. Sixty per cent of people in the West Midlands are unsure whether they can afford to pay their energy bills this winter, according to the watchdog Consumer Focus.
The most recent figures show that new cases of household energy debts nationwide have increased by 20%. Consumer Focus and Citizen’s Advice are concerned that many more people will be pushed into debt to their energy supplier this winter, with average price increases of 14% hit homes.
The organisations have launched the new awareness campaign - ‘Plug the Debt’ - to help people know what to do and what their rights are when they fall behind on their energy bills.
Worryingly around half of people in the UK don’t know their energy supplier has to help them if they fall into debt on their energy bills. Roger Godsiff MP wants to let their constituents know that help is out there and to urge people to contact their energy company or local Citizens Advice Bureau if they are having problems paying their bills.
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Posted by Mohammed Hemraj, 21:04, Mon 12 December 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
There are certain mammoth oprtaions like gas & electricity, railways, telecommunications, banks etc. which should be owned by the government; to privitise them and to expect that the private public companies will act in the interest of consumers and not in their vested interest is a wishful thinking. Where does it leave the public? Of course in blaming the Labour and Tory policies and the capitalist system. What is the solution? Take them in public domain. But where is the money? Aren't the government squandering enough tax payers money by going to war and in the inefficiencies?