THE huge increases in energy costs from ten to 24 per cent (depending on regional variation) from npower will face many families and pensioners who were just managing to stay financially afloat with a stark choice. Do they heat the home, or do they eat?

This is called fuel poverty, and is defined as energy costs being more than ten per cent of income.

For some pensioners this is already 25 per cent. Some third-world countries at least have a warm climate, we do not. Now many families will be in a truly impossible situation, and I haven't even mentioned credit problems.

The council must recognise that this level of energy rise is not so much a last straw on the donkey's back but more like a last bag of cement and bricks.

What action should be taken? As food prices are also increasing at record levels, I believe there must be a response of some sort. We cannot allow people to sink or this is not a society.

Chris Clayton, Hempland Drive, York.