Last year, February 2012, it was very very cold especially at nights I cough constantly at nights, we are always wearing extra layers in the house, my son has to wear extra layers as well to bed because he's cold all the time. We have our inhalers constantly, myself is asthmatic and my son.
When we moved in I found that the house was very very cold and the only form of heating that was here at the time was the night storage heaters and an open fire. And it was just so so bitterly cold, and I was quite worried about using the night storage heaters, but I put them on them anyway, and after probably two months and it was still quite cold, I got a bill from our electricity supplier for about 900 pounds, which absolutely terrified me.
The building we live it's a two storey flat of shops. It's an old building with single skin stone walls. There's only double glazing at the front not the back, there's electric heaters, pre-payment electric, which is more expensive than having a monthly direct debit.
You come down in the morning and you think it's raining, but it's not raining, rather condensation built up so much in the windows and the damp... is constantly cleaning the windows all the time, the walls are damp, the mold.
Last September, um, me and my husband found ourselves both unemployed at the same time. And we simply had a hundred and ten pounds to cover our bills - food, electric - so our heating, our cooking. In our bedroom, although there's double glazing, underneath the window there's a crack in the wall which I think is letting in water from the windowsill that's seeping down through. When it was cold and damp there was water literally running down one of the walls in our bedroom. Mold coating the walls; the paint bubbling up and blistering because of the damp coming through.
During the summer, we were spending on average 10 pounds a week on our electricity, which was manageable, and then, bam, straight up to a 100 pounds a month and we were still frozen. We were constantly wrapped under bundles of duvets, multiple layers of clothing, just to try to keep warm. We found that having about 8 or so tea lights going would raise the temperature of our room by a couple degrees. Yet we were paying a hundred pounds a month in electricity and we still weren't warm.
My husband had put in a wood burning stove in one of the sitting rooms. So it was lovely and warm in there but as soon as you opened the door and walked down the hallway it was absolutely freezing cold which just takes my breath away and makes me cough quite a lot. I had a look on the internet to see what I could do to try to reduce these bills and the center for sustainable energy's name popped up. They had a look around the house. I needed to balance the heating act in the house. And she showed me: how to use the night storage heaters, what settings to put them on. I was a bit dubious because she was telling me to leave doors open when I'd always kept the doors closed. But I tried it and it worked. She also put me in touch with some people who were able to help me to apply for disability living allowance which I didn't think I was entitled to. She even sent people here to help me fill in the forms which are very long and quite scary. They took hours to fill out but the people that came were absolutely wonderful and they allowed me to do it over a few days. We'd bought some of this plastic double glazing that you can put over your windows and the windows here are single glazed and very old, very lovely. But as you can see they're very old, they're the original windows. So my husband used this plastic—it's like a sort of cling film with double-sided tape—and you put it up and you put a hair dryer over it and all the wrinkles miraculously disappear. But it is efficient: it does stop the cold drafts coming in from these very old windows and that made a huge difference.
Over winter we had no contact with other people. Our contact with people was a fortnightly trip to the job center. The first of March, we switched all of our heating off, because... 20 pounds a week, it wasn't sustainable anymore. We- we couldn't keep going.
And of course, the first week of March was mild, and then it went really cold again, so we were back under the heavy blankets. We couldn't really afford to switch it back on, so we didn't, which meant we spent March and April cold, as well.
Late April, my husband got offered a full-time job, which was excellent. We were so relieved and we found out that we would be entitled to a one-month run-on on the housing benefit, so that was our rent covered until his first paycheck. We couldn't get that until they'd had a form signed by my husband's new employer.
Unfortunately, my husband's new employer had to send it off to their payroll office in Newcastle and get it signed, so it's going to take a minimum of two weeks- by which time, our rent would have been due. And... I had an absolute total breakdown over this; I was like, 'we're going to be homeless, it's going to be a disaster'- oh, and I cried, solid, pretty much, for two days... and then I realized, I needed help.
Then we searched myself on the internet. Came up with "Care and Repair" and I thought about it for a while and I gave them a ring. They were very quick, coming out within two weeks. Someone came out, then an interview with us and see what benefits we were on. They've changed all the radiators so we can turn them up or down. They're having the windows done and I'm sure it's gonna improve on our health, the house is gonna be a lot warmer, and lastly it will help tremendously cutting down the heating bills. They've also given us loft insulation as well so they were very very helpful. I know it's going to make a tremendous lot of difference this year so we're looking forward to that.
It made a huge difference to my life and my husband's life because it meant that I was able to stop worrying about heating the house. I was able to stop worrying about the electricity bill. And then that means my husband doesn't have to worry because I'm not worrying so we're both much happier and things are, for the first time ever, things are manageable and the house is warm.
Since my husband got his job, well we know we'll be able to pay for heating next winter, but it's being able to do those normal things like: go out for a meal with my husband for a birthday, or meet some friends for a coffee, or replace a pair of jeans that have been worn out without having to think, "where else are we going to sacrifice?" We're sleeping better. It's like we're alive again.
English from The UK please