// BBC BUSINESS NEWS — FINANZA
'I can't afford to heat my home on my pension'
Teresa Goubert said the cost of heating had become so expensive that she could not afford to heat her home this winter
Some pensioners say they are going to bed early, wearing extra layers and using hot water bottles because they cannot afford to heat their homes this winter.
Teresa Goubert, from Guernsey, who uses electric and oil heating, said: "I'm trying to keep it off as long as possible because it's got very expensive and I just can't afford to do it [heat home] on my pension."
The States has proposed a 19% increase in the means-tested winter fuel allowance to £50.48 a week. It will be debated in November.
Tina Bury, Employment and Social Security President, said: "The fuel allowance is quite a broad brush approach and obviously everyone's needs are different in this area."
Ms Goubert, who receives the allowance, said: "The first £70 of it is standing charges, so you're only getting sort of £100... just over £100 for your month, which is nothing at the moment."
"I'm putting blankets on me and then if I get too cold, I go up to bed, you know, just put more blankets on up there. That's the only solution."
Islander Katina Jones, who lives with her husband, said they waited as long as they could before turning the heating on.
"Once I make a cup of tea, I use the extra hot water in a hot water bottle to use just to keep us warm."
Sheila Cornelius, who lives in an over-55 housing development in the island, said: "It's not very good because I don't believe in being cold so of course all my money, most of it goes on there.