A
CHARITY that supports older people has expressed serious concern at the impact
on the elderly of an increase in prices by ESB Electric Ireland.
The
company has confirmed that there will be a 12 per cent increase in residential
electricity prices.
According
to Alone, this
“drastic
? increase, coupled with the recent 22 per cent increase
in Bord Gáis prices, means that many older people will be forced further into
the trap of fuel poverty. Alone said the 19 per cent drop in allowances for gas
and electricity for older persons, and the removal of the allowance for
smokeless fuel would have an effect too.
Fuel
poverty arises where a person spends more than 10 per cent of their income on
energy.
Chief
executive of Alone, Sean Moynihan, told Northside People:
“With 10 per cent of
the State pension being a mere e23, increased energy costs mean many of the older
people who need our services will be faced with deepening poverty and a
shocking but real choice: ‘to heat or to eat?’
“Our
service-users are the 15 per cent of older people already classed as vulnerable
due to a range of issues such as sub-standard housing conditions, isolation,
ill-health, disability and poverty.
“Last
winter requests for support from Alone for neglected older people rose six-fold
with a peak in crisis interventions during the hard freeze in December.
?
Mr
Moynihan added:
“With another hard winter forecast the cumulative effect of
price rises and cuts in allowances is to create a real health risk for many
older people, including the so-called hidden poor, those people who are
struggling every day but who might not yet have reached out to services like
ours.
?
Alone
is calling for an immediate response from the Government and a plan to ensure
that no older person is left to suffer in freezing circumstances this winter.
In
a statement on its website, ESB Electric Ireland said that as a result of
significant increases in the price of oil, gas and coal, it
“regrets
? that
residential electricity prices will increase from October 1, 2011.
“This
charge will mean that the electricity bill for a typical residential customer
will increase by approximately 12 per cent,
? it read.
ESB
Electric Ireland General Manager Liam Molloy said:
“We regret that we have had
to increase our electricity prices at this time.
“We
will continue to work with our customers who are facing difficulties in dealing
with their electricity accounts.
?