Family of four forced to shower once a week due to surging energy bills

A family of four has been forced to shower once a week in an attempt to keep their energy bill down.

The cutbacks highlight measures families across the UK are taking to survive some of the toughest living standards in 40 years driven by rising inflation, the war in Ukraine and increased food costs.

The Atmane family from Fulham, south west London, said the pressures of the cost of living crisis have become extremely difficult following the difficult pandemic.

Mother of teenage girls aged 13 and 14-years-old, Zahia Atmane said they can only afford to buy essential food and rely on a local food bank – Dad’s House.

“It’s a big pressure for us especially when you have kids and we try to deal and manage with this crisis but the price is getting very expensive and very high every day,” mother Zahir Atmane told The Independent.

Zahir added that since her husband lost his restaurant job during the pandemic, things have been extremely hard for the family and with the rising energy costs they’ve had to limit the amount of times they cook a week and limit showering to once a week to reduce energy bills.

“We cut down on a lot of things like buying clothes, buying the branded shampoo or soap, now we just buy the essential things, non-branded from Tesco or Sainsbury’s,” she added.

Zahia said Dad’s House has been an incredible help in providing food items when they can no longer afford to shop, but the pressures of surviving price surges still present challenges.

“It’s been very hard for the kids especially with this age they ask for a lot of things which I try to explain to them all the time. We try to explain things but it’s very hard,” Zahia said.

“We’re getting very sick because of all these things happening, I’m stressed and depressed.”

Zahia, who is unable to work due to a back condition, said her family welcomes the additional support coming from the government as her husband seeks full time work.

The story of the Atmane family is similar to that of pensioner Elsie, whose case was highlighted to Boris Johnson on Good Morning Britain earlier this year.

The 77-year-old told of how she tries not to turn the heating on too much, buys only yellow-sticker discounted food and uses her Freedom Pass to spend the day travelling the bus so she can save on energy at home.

In a major U-turn last week, chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a £5bn temporary windfall tax of 25 per cent on oil and gas companies to help fund a £15bn package of assistance for households struggling in the cost-of-living crisis.

Mr Sunak said almost all of the eight million worst-off households in the UK will benefit to the tune of £1,200. That includes a £650 cost-of-living payment for the poorest, a one-off £300 payment to 8m pensioner households and £150 each to 6m disabled people.

And he said that he will double the assistance with energy bills on offer to all households this autumn from £200 to £400 and convert the payment from a loan to a grant.

However, economists have warned that the intervention may not be enough.

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “I think the biggest risk here is that the chancellor will be tempted to do this again and again and I think if that happens then we really could be in for a bit of trouble.

“He has got the most extraordinarily difficult decisions to make later this year on public sector pay and then he will be under pressure I suspect again this time next year when energy prices will still be high, households will still be struggling to put more money in.”

Xural.com