Quote:
Originally Posted by RizzyKing
OAP's, certain benefit claimants and people on low wages all of us will struggle this winter as we struggled last winter but we adapt couple of years ago there was a sale on at B&M on quilts we bought two one for me one for the wife. Might look like a couple of planks sat on the couch wrapped up but beats the hell out of being cold which doesn't help my condition and it is an option everyone has.
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Putting on mountains of clothing or duvets does not ensure heat retention for everybody.
When I was on blood pressure medication I couldn't keep warm no matter what I did as with a BP of 100\60 and a pulse of 60 there was the usual complaint of peripheral coldness which crept through the body.
Even now when off BP medications and with a natural BP of 120\70 and pulse in the mid 60's I feel the cold due to the loss of body fat via dieting. I hate the cold with a passion but to be a moderately healthy pensioner male means a BMI of a racing whippet and no end of clothing compensates for cold ambient temperatures.
I see somebody in the thread pointed out an example of someone getting the heat allowance whilst in employment. Life isn't fair and never will be. I have always paid tax and probably will do until the day I die. The adjustments under Brown and Darling hit me at least equal to the heating allowance and under Osborne the rates for 65 plus people was not adjusted in keeping with younger people.
The net result is that one way or another the government claws back, via other methods, the amount it gives out with apparent largesse. There is no need for means testing when the Tax coding methodology does it all in an underhand way. Of course heating allowance is not taxable but other changes get it back from those who arguably through the fact that they are tax payers do not need it. Those who do not pay tax do not have it clawed back and nor should they because they need it on a meagre income.
Yesterday an older relative called and again I heard the comment "eat or heat" which is apparently a stark reality for a lot of people with Winter approaching. If the measure of a society is how it treats the old, sick and weak I wonder how many will die this Winter through hypothermia.
---------- Post added at 13:17 ---------- Previous post was at 13:03 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob
We might all complain about energy bills and costs of heating, but let's remember that it is only 20 or so years that central heating systems have become commonplace. Before then many would accept they should be adding extra layers of clothing.
There are also special tariff available to the elderly that mean they can totally fix their energy budget and not have to worry about use at all. These are typically based around the size and type of the property. They aren't widely publicised because they don't encourage energy efficiency from those who use them. For example if I go round to my 80 year old mother's house (she has been using this tarrff for a number of years) I need to strip down to my T shirt it's so warm.
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I would disagree with the 20years time line. I bought my current house 30 years ago and nobody would even look at a house without central heating back then or if they did would knock the price down to cover installation costs. It actually started to become commonplace 40 years ago when I bought my first house and I installed it as a priority during refurbishment.
There is a correlation between longevity and the environment that we make for ourselves. Heating is a major factor in longer life as it removes stresses of yesteryear from the equation. Remove that factor and the stress diseases of old will return and cull the older generation.
Your mother doesn't keep her environment so warm just because she can, it is because she needs to because she does not have the metabolism of a 40 something. I feel sure you are grateful that she can enjoy comfort commensurate with her needs
