Government should do more to help says shoppers in Walsall
There was scepticism among shoppers on a Black Country high street at the new energy plans laid out by the Prime Minister Liz Truss.
Mrs Truss made the announcement in the House of Commons of plans to cap average household energy bills at £2,500 a year from October through a new Energy Price Guarantee.
This would limit the price suppliers can charge customers for units of gas, which takes the place of the existing energy price cap and goes alongside the announced £400 energy bills discount for all households in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Walsall is one of the boroughs hit hard by fuel poverty, with Walsall South having 43.3 per cent of households and Walsall North 43.2 per cent spending more than 10 per cent of their income on fuel.
For shoppers and people out at work on Bradford Place in the town centre, the announcement of the plan was being met with a mixture of cynicism, doubt and weariness.
Frances and Steve Onions were on a day out from their home in Rushall and both said they were dubious of the plans and asked why the energy companies weren't being made to pay towards it.
The 66-year-old Frances said she had no faith in the plan at all and said a windfall tax would have been a better option.
She said: "In my mind, a windfall tax would have been the best idea because these companies are making all of these wonderful profits, but they're not going to invest all of it and they're making too much.
"My husband and I are both retired and have private pensions, but we will have to draw from our savings as what we have coming in won't be enough, and it means our savings will be dwindling all the time.
"The Government just don't seem to know what is going on with normal people and we need to hit the people at the top as they don't seem to know what is going on."
The 68-year-old Steve said: "They haven't looked into the situation properly as the energy companies are making millions of pounds and we'd like to know how they've allowed this to happen.
"They could have easily capped them and told them that because of the situation in Ukraine, they need to stop raking in money that we need to be able to keep ourselves warm.
"The people at the top won't care as they have their heated homes and big fires, but the reality is that the people at the bottom will be struggling and freezing during the summer."
Linda Dines from Bentley said she worked from home and the 54-year-old mental health recovery worker had done what she could to cut bills, but was derisive about the announcement.
She said: "I know that whatever Prime Minister came in would fix the energy price, but not at the old prices, more the prices in October or thereabout.
"The public would then hail them as a hero because everyone is struggling and, sadly, they'll all vote Conservative next time at a time when everyone is struggling and people haven't got any money."
The situation for people like 93-year-old Neville Whitehouse from Aldridge was a difficult one, with the retired newsagent saying he hadn't expected his pension of so many years not to be as effective.
He said: "Whatever arrangements I made early in life, the longer you live, the more it goes down, but I didn't imagine I'd have to made changes like cancelling my Sky TV in order to be able to pay for heating the room.
"I belong to the brigade of 1929, who were taught not to go into too much debt, to not rely on other people and to try and manage yourself, so it's become a bit of a blow to have this increase happen.
"I think the Government have got a tough job, but they are going to put this country into an awful lot of debt and ensure that people in the future are going to have to repay this debt."
Rachel Hazeldine from New Invention said she had been able to save during the summer to prepare for winter, but the 25-year-old said she felt the policy was a ploy to win votes.
She said: "From what I can gather, people are thinking it's a way to get some relief as everything has gone high, but I think the plan is being done in order to get votes in the future.
"We might be okay during the winter as I put the same amount on in June that I would for winter, but I know people who are struggling and you find yourself having to choose between food and heat."
