Bristol tower blocks: Resident says energy bill rise a 'shock'
BBCThe cost of living crisis is having a huge impact on many families in the UK. In Bristol, we spent the day with two families, who have been badly affected by rising inflation and energy bills.
It was still early when we arrived at Brenda's tower block. Bikes and mopeds were chained to the railings.
Brenda came to her balcony and beckoned us into the communal courtyard and up into her flat where she was making breakfast.
Her boys, eight-year-old Mac and Val, aged five, were sat on the sofa turning a Rubik cube at incredible speed.
Brenda told me: "We try to keep the TV off, it all helps".
She said that since April her energy bills have shot up and that this came as a "huge shock".
A household using a typical amount of gas and electricity is now expected to pay around £2,500 annually.
And bills are currently set to rise sharply in more than five months' time when the government's energy price guarantee ends.
While the boys finished their breakfast, Brenda was busy back in the kitchen, pouring beans and rice into a slow cooker.
"I have an instant pot and it really is a lifesaver, I don't normally use my oven or my cooker. It saves about 60 or 70% of energy while cooking," she said.
Brenda, who is bringing up the boys on her own, is a carer in a residential home. She is on the bank staff and said she just hopes to get shifts.
Another way of her saving money is to use the communal laundry room. Brenda took a huge plastic orange bag of dirty clothes and bedsheets down in the lift to the basement.
She only gets one slot a week in which to do all the family's washing. But it keeps the electricity bills low.
Once the washing was loaded, it was back upstairs to collect her boys for the short walk to school.
Money is tight, work is not constant, and on the whole Brenda is upbeat, but as we went our separate ways at the school gate, I asked how she felt ahead of the winter.
"Of course I'm worried but we'll see how it goes," she replied.
Inflation, which measures how the cost of living changes over time, currently stands at 10.1%.
That has led to increases in food prices.
Oil and gas prices also went up because energy was in greater demand as life got back to normal after Covid.
At the same time, the war in Ukraine meant less was available from Russia, putting further pressure on prices.
Family sleep in same bed
Five miles across Bristol lives Brenda's friend, single dad, Samuel. He lives in a 15th floor, one-bedroom flat, with his two boys - eight-year-old Lysander and five-year-old Zenuel.
When I arrived, Samuel was on the phone trying to sort out his benefits.
He used to be a security guard, but he has been signed off sick.
There is no slack in his budget. After he has paid all his bills, he is left with £52 a week to cover everything - food, school uniforms and shoes.
Samuel showed me his fridge. He told me how they can not afford cheese, unless they save up for it.
Inside all the food has "reduced" stickers. He said: "You've got to find a time when they are putting the prices down."
He showed me their bedroom, where all three of the family have to share a bed and his sons "cuddle up" to him for warmth.
"It's ridiculous," he said. "Three of us sleeping in one bed."
With tears in his eyes, he added: "I'm not the only one in this position, many families all over Bristol going through situations what we are going through and I can't take any more of this."
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