becky has a full time job but, for the first time, she s having to choose between feeding her young family and being able to pay for gas or electric. i have never had to use a foodbank before, i had to use one twice in the past two weeks, and purely because my money can t stretch anywhere anymore. it s the same for maureen, also worrying about how much each load will cost. her and her husband george are now looking at making dramatic savings ahead of the winter. we re scared. in the past we could go out and about, meet friends, go for lunch, you know, treat my grandchildren, go to the pictures. we thought about it really carefully and we thought, there s no way, there is no way on this earth that we are going to be able to pay those bills and continue life as it was before. the price set by the regulator ofgem is rising by 80% in october. a typical annual energy bill paid by direct debit is currently £1971. in october, that will rise to £3549.
citizens advice i here to help, but given the scale of these rises, there is only so much that we can do and it is absolutely critical that the government to urgently look at extra support for people this winter. heating winter. heatin- and winter. heating winter. heatin- and cookin- winter. heating winter. heatin- and cookin- are winter. heating winter. heatin- and cookin- are but winter. heating winter. heatin- and cookin- are but some winter. heating winter. heatin- and cookin- are but some of heating and cooking are but some of the bare essentials, but these are a feckless of the things that families may have to go without, hoping that the consequences for them would be too severe. won t be too severe. frances read, bbc news. after nine o clock this morning, we ll be answering your questions about rising energy costs, and what practical steps you can take to help lower your bills. if you have some thoughts on that please get in touch, we will have a panel of experts answering so
more expensive. with autism, chiidren more expensive. with autism, children can have limited foods to eat, children can have limited foods to eat. so children can have limited foods to eat. so it s children can have limited foods to eat, so it s not always possible to cook eat, so it s not always possible to cook back eat, so it s not always possible to cook back and to go to cheaper brands cook back and to go to cheaper brands. we are at present having an extension brands. we are at present having an extension and through a disabled facility extension and through a disabled facility grants that s provided by the government. i ve been fighting for years the government. i ve been fighting for years for this work to be done on the for years for this work to be done on the house. it s going to have equipment on the house. it s going to have equipment in it to meet his needs. times equipment in it to meet his needs. times are equipment in it to meet his needs. times are r
up again nextjanuary, taking the average bill to well over £11,000. the whole package will cost a staggering £29 billion in total. labour have set out plans to pay for it. first, it says it will raise £8 billion by backdating a windfall tax on gas and electricity companies. then it ll cancel the planned £400 rebate for customers and put £14 billion into freezing bills at their current level. finally, it says that reducing inflation will keep interests rates lower, saving £7 billion on government debt. the institute for fiscal studies has looked at labour s proposals. here s its director. we re looking at the same scale of support as we had through the furlough scheme, through covid. and this is clearly something bigger than the current government are offering and it would ensure that none of us saw any increases above current levels
at the those in the greatest need. here s the labour leader, sir keir starmer. there s choice that we have to make, and the choices either we let oil and the choices either we let oil and gas companies in the north sea continue to make huge profits whilst every household is really suffering with bills that they really can t afford, or we do something about it. the labour party will not walk on by. we will stand up for those households that are going to really struggle this winter. sir households that are going to really struggle this winter. struggle this winter. sir keir starmer explaining - struggle this winter. sir keir starmer explaining his - starmer explaining his decision making. let s just remind you what s happening and why energy bills are now such a big issue. last october, the average household was paying £1,a00 for gas and electricity over the year. in april, the price cap on bills was raised, making the average bill £1,971. that s going up again this october. some pred