'I only ate seven hot meals last year because I can't afford my energy bill'
Former carer Elaine Yates, 75, said she keeps her heating set to a maximum of 13C due to fears over her energy bills after losing her winter fuel payment.
A pensioner who has been stripped of the winter fuel payment said she is down to cooking just seven hot meals a year and keeps her heating to a max of 13C to save money.
Former carer Elaine Yates, 75, said she has only turned her oven on a handful of times in the past 12 months because she cannot afford her skyrocketing energy bills.
The widower, who lives in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, told Yahoo News set sets her heating to an absolute max of 13C, and she rarely — if ever — has hot meals.
In the UK, the ideal thermostat setting is between 18°C and 21°C.
"I'm 76 this year, and I shouldn't have to live like this," she told Yahoo News. "I daren’t go any higher than 13C. I looked last night at my smart meter, and it said that the month had cost me £38. I cannot afford that, so that will put me in debt alone.
"I’ve cooked seven hot meals in the last year in an oven. I have toast, I have cereal, a baked potato, or I make sandwiches. I don’t eat nourishing food because I can’t afford it.
I look out of the window and think, ‘Oh god, what else can I make today? How can I get through?’", she said.
Added to this, Yates, who has various health conditions, such as sarcoidosis of the lungs and arthritis, which worsen in bad weather, said she is "permanently cold".
"I’ve got an injury in my back which affects the nerves in my spinal cord. My feet and hands are permanently cold, even if I put my socks on at night and have a hot water bottle," she said.
"If the government could have my pension for a month, and live in my conditions for a month… I wonder how they'd cope."
'I should not have to go without'
Yates is calling on the government to reinstate winter fuel payments for every pensioner in England after dealing with the cold snap, saying that there are thousands like her in Northamptonshire alone.
"I cared for my husband Michael for 19 years, 24/7. I saved the government thousands in doing so. I’d do it tomorrow again, in a heartbeat, if he were still here," she said. "In Northamptonshire, one in 10 of us will be carers.
"The government have got no idea what living's like for an elderly person that's devoted their life to saving the government money.
"I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t go on holiday. I should be able to have the luxury of not having to go without.
The government estimated that around 10 million people like Yates would miss out on the winter fuel payment this winter after it changed the eligibility criteria last year, with 1.6 million of those being disabled pensioners.
A government spokesperson said: “We don’t want to see anyone suffering this winter, which is why we have continued the Warm Home Discount and extended the Household Support Fund which will help with the cost of food, heating and bills.
“We are committed to supporting pensioners – with millions set to see their state pension rise by up to £1,900 this parliament through our commitment to the triple lock.
"Our Warm Homes Plan will also help people find ways to save money on energy bills and deliver warmer, cleaner to heat homes, with up to 300,000 households to benefit from upgrades next year.”
In response to limiting the criteria for the winter fuel payments, the government launched a drive to get more people to sign up for pension credit. Only those who receive pension credit are eligible for the winter fuel payment.
However, delays in processing pension credit applications are leaving many people who are eligible without, with the government hiring 500 extra staff to process the backlog.
Gen Kitchen, the MP for Wellingborough and Rushden in Yates's constituency, told Yahoo News: “I have arranged drop-in advice surgeries with organisations such as Age UK Northamptonshire, Citizens Advice and community law to ensure pensioners are getting the help they are entitled to and to explore ways to save money on their bills.
"This has resulted in some constituents successfully claiming pension credit as well as other support that they were not previously aware of."
For Yates, the situation is “just crippling".
"The government has no idea what they’ve done to us," she added.
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