Paying a high price for the big freeze

THE prolonged cold, blizzards, drifting snow and freezing roads caused chaos across Britain — and especially here in Oldham.

Now the thaw has set in, householders are counting the cost.

Four in 10 people who took part survey were worrying how to pay their energy bills. One in eight had dipped into savings while many more were cutting back on general spending.

Reporter Marina Berry asked how Oldham town centre shoppers are coping.

Pensioner Vera Kitto said she was fortunate to have a second pension which she put aside to pay all her bills.

The 86-year-old, of Marian Street, Hathershaw, said she had forked out £400 for her heating bill just before Christmas, and admitted she would have struggled to pay it without her extra pension.

Susan Stables, from Fitton Hill, said she had turned the heating up at home, regardless of the cost, and would worry about paying the bill when it came.

“We have had it on all day, there is someone in all the time, and it was the only way to keep warm,” she said.

“I am worried about how much it’s going to cost, and we don’t have much savings, but we needed the warmth and we will suffer the consequences later.

“I pay monthly so I can budget, but they will no doubt put the payments up,” she added.

Mother-of-four, Vicky Roberts, said she had limited her heating to “an hour here, and an hour there” despite the sub-zero temperatures.

Her children have been wearing housecoats and slippers to try and keep warm at their home in Elm Road, Hollins.

Vicky (32) said: “If we put the heating on all the time, which it needed, we just wouldn’t be able to pay the bills. Her husband, Paul, added: “We live in perpetual fear of bills these days.”

Jason Victory (40), of Glodwick, has been spending between £40 and £45 a week on his pre-pay electric metre to keep the heating running.

He said he needs to keep his house warm for when his four children and two grandsons visit.

“It’s like filling up a slot machine, it’s costing a lot, but I have had no choice,” he said.

Pensioner Beryl Jones is reeling from a £302 gas bill which dropped on her doormat last week, and wondering how she is going to pay it.

The 64-year-old, of Abbeyhills Road, said: “It’s gone up a heck of a lot, but it’s been really really cold and we have had the heating on 24 hours.

“It was either that or pneumonia.”

She added: “We will have to tighten our belts in other ways.”

Rachel Gray and her husband David tussle over the heating controls at their home in Higginshaw village.

Rachel (34) turns up the dial to keep her four sons, aged 15, 12, six and 23 months, warm.

But her husband, who served in Bosnia with the Household Cavalry, keeps turning it down.

“He says it’s not that bad, but I keep cranking it up,” laughed Rachel.

She prepays for her fuel through a meter, and admitted she had put a lot of money in over the winter. I would rather have that than a bill because at least I know it’s paid for,” she said.

“The children need to be warm, and it helped that we got two £25 cold weather payments when the temperature dipped down.”

Craig Degnan lives with his mother, Paula, in Quail Street, Salem, and he, too, gets cold-weather payments.

His mother said he contributed to household bills, and she took more off him when they were higher.

Craig said he spent his cold weather payments on games, but admitted he was cold in his bedroom at night.

His mother added: “Heating has been costing us £30-£40 a week, but it all comes out of one pot.”