Bilston food bank ready to help people with energy price rise

That's the message from the Excel Food Bank in Bilston, which will be one of many in the region working to help people affected by rising energy bills.

It comes after Ofgem confirmed a rise of £693 per year from the beginning of April.

The food bank has been a leader in its community during the Covid-19 pandemic and has started a partnership with energy and gas supplier Utilita Energy to help people find the best deals for household energy.

Co-ordinator John Raj said the rise was going to have a tremendous effect of families and Excel was getting prepared to help them.

He said: "My initial reaction to this is that we have to get ready to help even more families, because this rise is going to put a tremendous strain on families, who will have to choose between gas and electric and food.

"It will have a huge reaction in this area in particular as the majority of our households have pre-payment cards to put a certain amount of gas and electric on at a time, so the increases are going to make things more and more difficult for them."

Mr Raj said the food bank had already received substantial requests for blankets, quilts and other clothing items from families who already felt they wouldn't be able to pay their energy bills.

He said it was not right in this day and age to see families struggling to pay energy bills and having to find alternative means and said the government needed to find a practical solution to help people.

He said: "They need to work out how they are going to help people who already got debt on their bills already as there is no way they can pay those debts alongside the new increase.

"There needs to be a structure in place of how the government, local agencies and utility companies are going to be able to help these people as it is going to have a massive hit on them.

"We will offer help as best as we can and reprioritise what we can do with our resources to ensure families do not struggle alone during this time."