A NORTH EAST woman has described her anger and dismay after her energy supplier hiked her gas and electricity bill by more than £66 a month almost overnight.
Anne Hall, 65, said she fears for those even "worse off" than her after being forced to make drastic cuts to everyday spending, household bills and even number of meals a day.
The mother-of-two from Sunderland told The Northern Echo how the incredible rise from £80 to £146 a month had left her reeling and "downright disgusted."
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She said: "It's absolutely disgusting - the cost of living is ridiculous and is forcing people to either heat or eat, and lots of people are in the same position."
It comes as millions in the UK face an immediate and significant rise in their energy bills as the price cap - which is the maximum a supplier can charge - was increased by a whopping 54 percent yesterday (April 1).
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Explaining how soaring energy bills had left her deeply concerned and stressed, Mrs Hall said she had been forced to severely restrict usage in her household to levels she never thought she would have to.
Drastic measures
She said: "Now, the heating goes on for barely an hour in the morning and an hour on the night and that's it.
"When we're going to the bathroom to wash our hands all of the time, we're only using cold water just to save the boiler from heating up.
"We're trying to scale back everything, but what more do they want us to do?"
The situation has become so worrying, Mrs Hall said she had started to reduce the number of her meals per day.
Customers had been encouraged to submit their meter readings before midnight to ensure suppliers only charged them for the energy used under the old rates.
But like thousands across the region, Mrs Hall had been left unable to submit her meter reading after the E.ON website appeared to go down, adding to yet further stress and concern.
It took several hours of errors before she was finally able to submit her meter readings, just hours before the rocketing rates came into force.
'It can't continue'
Accusing the Government of not doing enough to save families from financial ruin, she said she fears for those who have "nothing" or very little left to scale back.
She said: "It's like the public are being classed as minions at the bottom of the pile, the people at the top don't want to know. They get pay rises and they have money for it.
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"But this can't continue, the people at the top need to look at the likes of us people who are much worse off and they need to look at what they can do."
Mrs Hall added that despite some reports, it is not just the elderly and vulnerable being impacted and that "this cannot be put into age groups, it has affected everybody."
Her fears were shared by North East MPs who last night slammed the Government's response so far as "pathetic" and said there is still time to fix the crippling costs.
Labour MP for Stockton North, Alex Cunningham said people across the region are being forced into spiralling bills and difficult decisions.
He said: “The Chancellor had the opportunity to address this in his Spring Statement and introduce policies that would help people. He spectacularly failed to do so."
But Simon Clarke, who is Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said he recognised the rise in energy bills as "frustrating."
Mr Clarke, who is also MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, said that there is “nobody in the Government who doesn’t understand this is a severe squeeze.”
He made those comments as he said the Government continues to help during "genuinely tough times" and that "things will get better."
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