Using the energy bonus money to heat the house

Nice one Monica ?

M0nica

Tell her she will have wasted all the money she has spent on her new hip if she dies of hypothermia.

Good one!

I’ve just got back from her house and I’m pleased to say that she has listened to my concerns about her health and did change the thermostat to 18 degrees.

She was not aware of the extra payment for pensioners and had not added up all the support she will get towards energy costs and I think she was reassured. Luckily she’s on a fixed price tariff for another year so we worked out how much extra her bills would be based on my usage but on her tariff and the extra money will more than cover her bills for the winter.

Hopefully she will leave the heating on, I’ll find out next visit!

Tell her she will have wasted all the money she has spent on her new hip if she dies of hypothermia.

18degrees is the lowest heat that an older person, and one who does not have a great deal of mobility should have in their living areas. No amount of extra layers of clothing will make up for the breathing in of cold air. Surely, this lady wants to live to enjoy her new hip. Very false economy to have the heating so low, she will probably end up quite unwell, or worse.

This needs to be said to her loudly and clearly - whether she want to hear it or not.

I didn’t know there was such a number as 12 degrees ?

ask her what she is saving up for. The shroud with no pockets perhaps?

My daughter lived for 7 years without having the heating on, even when we had snow. I don’t know if anyone remembers my thread about my visits and staying in a cold house, which at times were just 9 degrees. Anyway, she had social workers etc and plenty of support, she would listen and then do her own thing and not have it on and she could afford it, also she was not mobile and spent most of her day just sat in a chair. I am sorry to say and speaking from experience there is anything you can do to make your friend change her mind. When she is ready she will put it on

Point out that there are no pockets in a shroud and she will be in it pretty soon, if she doesn't heat her house.

Does she want to be in the papers because she was found dead in the house having died of hypothermia?

However warmly you wrap up, if she is breathing in air that is only 12c or just higher, she will get hypothermia.

My mother, who died about 15 years ago would never heat the house in her twilight years. Despite having a good pension and plenty of money in the bank she always wore a coat and hat in the house when it was cold. If anyone came to the door she didn’t want to see, she would say she was just going out ! Sadly though, she didn’t think it was worth heating the house just for herself.

Maybe she has always been frugal with her heating? , IMO it won’t do her or her home any good.

12C is ridiculous! I do not need the heating on yet but when I do it will be at 18C as my house is well insulated.

Perhaps you should mention if her house is too cold her pipes may freeze. If I think there is any likelihood of that here I have the heating on low overnight and that is cheaper than sorting out burst pipes.

Your friend’s £400 towards her energy costs will go in £66 installments direct to her energy provider from October to March. Perhaps she might notice building up a credit with them, sufficient to ask why and you can reply that she needs to get her heating on, to use it up?
Octopus increased my monthly payment by so much from May that I built up a ridiculous amount of credit and have now reduced my payments to less than I was paying 2 years ago.

I fear that your words might fall on deaf ears, Teacheranne, although she might respond to your saying that you're planning to spend all of your money on heating, food ,and good living to prevent the blooming government snatching it back in tax on your demise. When my mother was alive, and anxious about bills, I sort-of implied that the winter heating allowance had to spent on heating or They Would Know, and it would be snatched back. That kept her toasty! Sadly, I expect that your friend is too savvy to fall for that.

No health visitor or social worker and she paid privately for her hip operation so I don’t think there is any NHS follow up. In other aspects, she is an independent person, has an active social life and looks after herself. She just seems to have a thing about saving money on her energy bills - I blame her love of watching the news on tv!

I think you are right to be worried. Many people will suffer this winter I fear. I hope your friend is not one of them.

There are so many threads about refusing to turn on the heat, and just bundling up that it starts to feel competitive in who can survive in the coldest temps. Those threads feel dangerous to me.

I take it she has no health visitor or similar who might point this out to her?

Personally I wouldnt say any thing over and above
"Its too cold in here, I dont know how you can stand it"
She has to live with these decisions after all