Look what the media did.......

MultiFuelBurner

This was the case for my grandparents they had got themselves in such a state with the constant news about energy prices when in reality they had lots of government help and eventually once we talked through it they heated their home all over winter for free

BBC News - Woman worried about energy bills died of hypothermia

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-65173200

EssexHebridean

Yes - some of us have been warning for a while about the dangers of the media's fearmongering - indeed, we've seen it repeated on here too with people who believe that because the BBC say it "It must be true". The worrying thing is that no amount of facts and figures will encourage those folk to start doubting what they see/read either in a lot of cases, which is how the scare stories get perpetuated. 

There is a huge difference between "Costs have risen sharply but here is the help you are getting, and here is the picture after that is taken into account" and the "We're all doomed!" approach that the media have all too often chosen to take. 

MFGB I'm glad that you managed to encourage your Grandparents to take a rational approach to the situation. 

GibbsRule_No3.

I had just read this on their website.  Wished there was a HYS because I agree with the above, the media blew the cost risk to the elderly out of proportion IMHO.  I wasn't on Pension Credit so only received the Band D, the extra £300 (so £500) winter fuel allowance and the £400 that everyone got but that more than paid for my usual electric bill last year, ask me this time next year and I might be struggling as the only extra will be the £300 on top of the £200 WFA. (House is only electric) The family said they tried to persuade her to put the heating on and that they went round or talked to her daily, so it wasn't as though she was on her own.  I'm sure the Government, rather than the Press will get the blame though.

SJMALBA

Not seeking to defend MSM (which is, by and large, dumbed-down, sensationalist garbage, IMO), but I wonder how much Government help might have been forthcoming had it not been for MSM's focus on the cost of living?

MattMattMattUK

I would say that the media set the climate, at the moment everything is a crisis or an emergency, we are all going to freeze, or starve, or die of Covid or some other disease, or be nuked by Russia, how much people choose to engage with that is up to them. Even Martin Lewis sometimes descends into what feels like hysterical politics, with the way it was talked of being absolute disaster if the EPG was allowed to rise, despite it being a period where energy usage drops significantly. 

Most people have the ability to understand energy costs should they wish, usage is fairly simple to assess and calculate the associated cost, however many people choose not to, just as the news has dumbed down because people only want the simplistic information presented to them. Whilst I accept that the general population may not be particularly bright I am sure that it would only be a tiny minority who are actually unable, rather than unwilling, to understand their energy usage and associated costs. 

EssexHebridean

I think the issue is that in some cases, once someone is sufficiently scared, they genuinely do lose the ability to stop and think analytically about what they are being told. Also the trust levels in the likes of the mainstream media - particularly from those in an older demographic - is sometimes still ludicrously high, so if the BBC says "this is dreadful - people won't be able to afford to heat their homes" that inevitably can lead to some people thinking that it must be true. Martin's main focus on the rising EPG was always about the mental health implications - and my take on his approach was very much that his main concern wasn't about what actually was going to happen, but the damage the perception of what was going to happen might do.

A good piece of advice I picked up some years back - "In an emergency, the first thing to do is to take your own pulse" - or, in the case of rising energy bills, work out the actual likely costs, and what money you have to offset those costs! 

MattMattMattUK

EssexHebridean said:

I think the issue is that in some cases, once someone is sufficiently scared, they genuinely do lose the ability to stop and think analytically about what they are being told. Also the trust levels in the likes of the mainstream media - particularly from those in an older demographic - is sometimes still ludicrously high, so if the BBC says "this is dreadful - people won't be able to afford to heat their homes" that inevitably can lead to some people thinking that it must be true. Martin's main focus on the rising EPG was always about the mental health implications - and my take on his approach was very much that his main concern wasn't about what actually was going to happen, but the damage the perception of what was going to happen might do.

A good piece of advice I picked up some years back - "In an emergency, the first thing to do is to take your own pulse" - or, in the case of rising energy bills, work out the actual likely costs, and what money you have to offset those costs! 

In an emergency situation the people who panic are generally the ones who end up dead, they miscalculate and run into danger, they make their situation worse. However the issue I take here is that this is not an emergency, or crisis, this is a situation with almost zero time pressure, when it comes to calculating the the cost implications it is something that almost any adult could work out in less than half an hour, something that most competent adults could work out in a few minutes, so even if their immediate course of action was to turn off all energy supplies to their home they still have more than enough time to understand their position and formulate a response and the power would only need to be off for an hour at most. 

michaels

No doubt MSM will now be able to say 'told you so' that higher bills have led to deaths from the cold

Sea_Shell

Sadly highlights how damaging messaging* can be if it frightens people to death.  Literally. ☹️



* from media, government or other "trusted" sources.

daveyjp

Sounds like an elderly relative and his wife.  My parents visited a couple of months ago and the house was freezing.

Through the papers they choose to read and MSM they have convinced themselves they really can't afford the central heating.  Thermostat is on 16 and they heat the lounge with an electric heater.

The problem however is not shortage of money, they believe they are being ripped off so won't pay to keep warm.  This is despite receiving all the government assistance which would probably cover their expenditure as they are rarely at home due to the number of holidays they have.  Madness.

EssexHebridean

daveyjp said:

Sounds like an elderly relative and his wife.  My parents visited a couple of months ago and the house was freezing.

Through the papers they choose to read and MSM they have convinced themselves they really can't afford the central heating.  Thermostat is on 16 and they heat the lounge with an electric heater.

The problem however is not shortage of money, they believe they are being ripped off so won't pay to keep warm.  This is despite receiving all the government assistance which would probably cover their expenditure as they are rarely at home due to the number of holidays they have.  Madness.

Well yes - you only have to look at the number of threads here from people adamant that they are being "ripped off" or "Scammed" to appreciate the lack of understanding that's out there.