A Knowsley charity has issued a warning to energy companies who have threatened to increase costs this winter.
Knowsley Foodbank said the recent energy price hikes have forced its users to choose between “heating and eating”. The social enterprise fed 86,000 people last year, more than half of the borough's population.
The energy price cap is expected to increase between £830 and £2,800 in October, according to the head of Ofgem. Meanwhile a solar power company partly owned by BP threatened to pass on extra costs to its customers if it was hit with more taxes.
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Knowsley Foodbank handed out parcels to 1377 people in May, with half of those users being children. Life expectancy in the area was far lower than the national average in 2019 and a quarter of its population are classified as “income deprived”, according to the ONS.
The company's marketing coordinator Jordan Williams told the ECHO: “Since the initial energy price cap increase in April, we have seen a huge spike in demand for food support. We believe our Foodbank Services are now feeling the full effects of the energy increases this month.
“Today alone, before it had even reached lunchtime, we had issued 22 food parcels to Knowsley Foodbank distribution points in the local area; we usually get around seven – that’s a 214% increase in demand and the day is not even over yet.
“We have seen people struggle to be able to afford both food and fuel since the rise in the cost of living. We welcome any relief the recently announced Windfall Tax could bring to people in hardship, however we can’t be sure of how sustainable an action plan this actually is.
“With the looming energy increase coming in October, we have to be prepared to help even more people in the winter months; households will be pushed into making this inhumane choice. There needs to be a long-term process in place to prevent more people from falling into food and fuel insecurity, short-term reliefs do not provide that safety.”
Knowsley Foodbank is part of a nationwide network of charities supported by the Trussell Trust. The umbrella organisation has 23 active branches in Liverpool.
According to Statista, a digital data hub, more than 2m people in the UK depend on foodbanks.
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