News that electricity bills are set to soar will come as no surprise. It has been widely predicted that prices will spike by as much as 30% this autumn – just in time for the dark evenings and biting draughts. One things is certain, we will be paying a lot more for electricity next winter than we did in the winter just past.
And yet, within the greater blueprint, can anyone say they are amazed? The storm has been looming on a darkening horizon. Food costs have been on the rise since Christmas; it is now a fact that the diet of the less well-off is determined by what is on discount in local supermarkets. Meanwhile, driving costs know no ceiling, with pump attendants almost apologetic at the fraction of a litre your 100p currently entitles you to burn. It has even been suggested that we could be paying nearly £2 a litre come Christmas. What to do?
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has gone to Scotland to ask North Sea oil bosses to raise the output from dwindling wells – a knee-jerk gesture in the faces of angry lorry drivers. Everyone else knows we can't just turn on the taps and hope the energy crisis goes away.
Instead of continuing with increasing driving costs, the PM should rethink how car tax is calculated.
As usual, increasing energy costs – lighting, heating, washing, ironing, cooking and entertainment – will really have an impact on consumers at the "budget" end of the spectrum. The Consumer Council is calling for emergency aid for poorer families. It estimates the Treasury has a windfall of £10 million from VAT levied on dearer fuel. Instead of heating the elderly and infirm, where could this be channelled? Afghanistan and Iraq?
Those families and individuals living close to, or beneath, the breadline have faced the "heat or eat" dilemma for years. Many more will surely face it now. But in an age when we can put artificial intelligence on Mars, can we really call ourselves civilised when we still fail to prevent avoidable deaths from financial want and neglect? For too long, we have been living it up at the expense of our humanity. The 'golden age' is on the brink as, for the first time in a generation, we are facing a real energy crisis. How we negotiate our way out of this crisis could well determine the future, and the fate, of our planet.
