Some OAPs will shiver in the dark

PROUD pensioners will be hardest hit by the huge rise in the price of electricity, says Age Concern.

The charity's Bailiwick chairman Deputy Jan Kuttelwascher said: 'The older people with only their States pensions to live on are the ones who will be hit the hardest.'

The cost of electricity is set to rise by 17% from 1 April but Deputy Kuttelwascher said people tended to be too proud and suffered in silence.

'The biggest problem is getting people to admit that they have a problem,' he said.

The branch has a means-tested medical benefits scheme and he said if some people took advantage of that, it could free some of their other money for use on things such as heating.

Retired Union Members and OAP Association chairman John Guilbert found the increase hard to understand because much of the island's electricity is imported via the French cable link and power there is largely nuclear-generated.

'This will cause problems, particularly for the elderly, some of whom have no central heating and rely on electric fires,' he said.