HARD-WORKING mum Nyree Clark fears she will die this winter if temperatures inside her two-bed terrace house in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, fall below 20c.
The 40-year-old, who has severe idiopathic cold urticaria, a condition that leaves her with painful rashes and breathing difficulties when her skin gets too cold, has been stockpiling wood to help her survive energy price hikes.
Nyree Clark, 40, has been stockpiling wood to help her survive energy price hikes
Her bills are going up to £309 a month in October from £170.
It means a third of her monthly income will be spent on energy bills leaving her with barely enough to cover her mortgage and food shop.
Nyree, who is a health adviser for the NHS as well as running a pet courier business with her husband Michael, 51, said: “We’ve been stockpiling cut-up wood to go in our very old fire in our front room, and we’re going to have to keep it running over the winter.”
She is determined that her son Cody, 13, will not have to go without but the family are now living in two rooms.
“It’s just to heat the house in the winter, and we’ll be turning everything else off.
“Obviously I’m terrified that it will happen.
“When it does, my airways close up, and I can’t breathe.
“It’s very similar to a severe peanut allergy. You have to call the ambulance if you go anaphylactic.
“It causes a strain on the NHS – and I don’t want to do that.
“Michael is looking for an extra job doing warehouse shifts to help us get by.
“We are not using the oven at all but have bought an airfryer instead.
“The energy company said we would have to go into debt, but I don’t want to ruin my credit score.
“We’ve got a mortgage to pay and we don’t want to lose our house.
“The increase is going to be completely unaffordable.
“We can’t pay what we don’t have.”
BILL NOW: £2,041 a year
GOING UP TO: £3,710 a year