Smart meters

MadeinYorkshire Your situation sounds dire and I am worried by some of the things you say in your post.
Disability benefits are not income linked, so a rise in your private pension should not affect them.

Assuming you are over 65 you should be getting free prescriptions regardless of income. If you are under 65 you can buy prescription 'season tickets'. They cost £108 for a year's prescriptions www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/prescriptions-and-pharmacies/save-money-with-a-prescription-prepayment-certificate-ppc/

I repeat below advice I gave on another thread to someone who seemed to be in a similar position.

You should speak to Age UK or Citizen's Advice, they can both do benefits checks.

Benefits you may be entitled to include:
_Pension Credit:_www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs48_pension_credit_fcs.pdf

If you are in rented property you may qualify for housing benefit www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs17_housing_benefit_fcs.pdf

You may also qualify for Council tax relief whether you rent or own your house www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs21_council_tax_fcs.pdf

If you are becoming disabled, perhaps need help doing things or have had falls you may well qualify for Attendance Allowance. If you would like to discuss that PM me and I will try to help

You could also qualify for insulation grants.

But the firstthing you must do is speak to Age Uk, locally or nationally, or Citizen's Advice.

missdeke the purpose of a smart meter is NOT to save you money. It is to make it easier for your energy supplier to send you accurate bills, no more estimates, and arguments about bills.

For some people seeing how much electricity they are using does help them see where they could save electricity, but I an chasing my supplier for smart meters and I know they will not save us any money, because we have always monitored our consumption.

Smart meters are nothing special, all the do that your current meter doesn't, is let your supplier have meter readings without you having to remember to.

*MOnica thank you ... am pretty up on benefits myself, and I am getting everything I am entitled to, but because I am on old Legacy Benefits, I am sure they are wrong! I am using some people from Income_max who are helping me. I am nearly 61 so not entitled to my State Pension just yet. We called the DWP on 16th January, and they were supposed to call me back within 72 hrs, obviously they didn't, so we called again yesterday and they SHOULD call me back with an answer this morning ... I won't hold my breath.
Yes - I SHOUD be entitled to some grants, but am having difficulty in getting hold of anyone! Hopefully Income_max will help me with that too.

Will update later if I get anywhere ....

Please do MadeinYorkshire. So many people struggle to live on tiny incomes when they are entitles to all kinds of benefits.

I would recommend talking to Age UK. I confess a bias. I was a Benefits advisor with them, when they were Age Concern, that is sometime ago now, but I have kept my hand in with offering advice on GN, if it might be needed, plus filling in forms for friends and family.

I fought tooth and nail to avoid having to have one but my old, traditional, gas meter finally gave us the ghost over Christmas. I got a smart meter but I think I am a bit obsessed with it now. I'm checking everything to see how much a cup of boiling water costs (1p), A full washing machine (about 40p), I even bought a one person airfryer because of all the rave reviews, and it is quite cheap but I don't use it every day.

effalump we bought a small airfryer and didn't use it a lot, but when it died in January.

I then, on DD's advice (she lives alone) bought a slightly bigger one and haven't stopped using it. DH cooks his breakfast sausages in it, I have cooked a fritatta in it. It is big enough to get small bowls in, roasted root vegetables and yesterday cooked 2 salmon fillets, wrapped up in a foil parcel with chopped veg, plus the usual roast potatoes, chips and pomms parmentier.