Elderly Stafford couple left 'panicking' over energy costs

An elderly couple said they have been left "panicking" over a prospective rise to their energy bills.

Stafford Town Crier, Peter Taunton, 79, and wife Maureen, 84, live in a housing association bungalow where their monthly energy bills cost £179.

Mr Taunton said he had calculated this will rise to £350 amid the energy regulator Ofgem's latest 54% price cap increase.

The pensioners said they were "very concerned" about how they would pay.

The couple's home has an electric boiler, and a smart meter designed to help reduce their energy bills.

Mr Taunton said he got a small stipend towards his town crier role, but for living costs they only had their pensions.

"I used to be in the prison service so I have got a small pension with them, and I was also in the Army, so I have a small pension for that," he said.

"We live on what we get every month, I have got a £300 overdraft on my bank account which I can draw on, and some months I draw on it and others I am a couple of pounds in profit.

"It is really worrying.

"We will actually sit in the front room watching TV, and the wife says: 'I'm feeling a bit cold, shall I go and get another jumper?'

"I don't blame the government one little bit, because they have been through something along with the rest of us that no one been through before, it is just the way things have gone."

Mr Taunton said, because the couple live in supported housing, they had approached the people who assist them to see if anything can be done to help.

"I can't see a way out of it, we're having a job to deal with the £170 now," he said.

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