Survey reveals 34% of people will be forced to reduce their spending on food shopping this winter due to the cost of energy bills.
The survey also found that over half of households are worried about the cost of staying warm this winter – as Ofgem announces the latest energy price cap increase
The survey was commissioned by home heating brand, Airgon, to determine how worried consumers are about ever-increasing energy prices in the run-up to winter.
As the cost of living crisis rages on, more households than ever now face a winter in fuel poverty and the latest Ofgem price cap increase has been announced – with households set to pay 5% more on their energy bills from January. For an average household, this increases their annual energy bill to £1,928 per year.
An average household is already paying £800 more now on their energy bills than at the start of the energy crisis, according to a statement by the Chief Executive of National Energy Action, a fuel poverty charity, and the Autumn Statement which took place on 22nd November did little to support households already struggling with fuel debt.
The survey, conducted by home heating experts, Airgon, asked 2,000 people from across the country about their concerns over heating costs throughout the winter months.
Over half (56%) are worried about the cost of staying warm this winter with 16% stating that they were very worried about how they would afford the cost of their energy bills.
The survey found that 34% of households will have to cut back on their food shopping this winter – just in order to afford their energy bills, with almost one in 10 stating they will be cutting food bills back by a lot in order to keep up with payments.
Elsewhere, the survey found that over half of consumers (58%) spend up to 29% of their monthly income on energy bills – with one in 10 households in Wales spending over 20% on gas and electricity and one in 10 homes in London having to fork out over 30% of their monthly income just on energy bills alone.
Mark Brown, Commercial Director of Airgon, said: “As we can see from the survey results, consumers around the country are already terrified about the cost of keeping warm this winter.
This is only exacerbated by the latest energy price cap increase which will undoubtedly put further pressure on finances in the new year and more misery for people already struggling with the cost of energy bills.
Our advice to anyone who is concerned about energy bills is to ensure the system is running at an optimum level, and to its highest efficiency. This could mean getting a boiler service as quickly as possible before the cold snap hits, or investing in a device such as an Airgon which increases system efficiency, lowers costs, and prevents costly emergency call-outs.”
“We urge households to look into alternative ways to save energy – not least because there seems to be little financial support from energy providers, or the government – and look into a product such as an Airgon which can knock up to £650 off energy bills each year.”
Airgon is a compact, easy-to-fit device that can be installed to any wet heating system in under 30 minutes. For a one-off £249 cost, Airgon will increase the efficiency of old boilers by as much as 30%.
Airgon has already been installed by over 600 households in the UK who are seeing the difference that an energy-efficient home can make to their everyday expenditure.
Not only that, but if all of the UK’s 23 million households with gas boilers installed an Airgon it could reduce CO2 emissions by up to 20m metric tonnes. This would achieve 25% of the UK government’s domestic target for carbon emissions in just 12 months.
For more information on Airgon, please visit www.airgon.co.uk
