'I'll die in debt': Extreme measures being taken to cut heating costs

Morwell resident Zofia Graham confronts the same agonising question every winter: do I turn the heater on, or not?

But this year - the coldest in decades for some parts of the state - the decision is especially brutal.

"The cost has just kept going up, I just can't afford it," Ms Graham said.

She is one of the nearly 150,000 Victorians struggling to pay their energy bill, a figure that has risen sharply in the past three years, especially for gas.

While the government offers some support - and some bills dropped by about $100 from July 1 - agencies like Uniting Vic.Tas. have never been busier, with a third of their Victorian clients rationing energy and many going without food to put the heating on.

Ms Graham said it's always been a challenge to pay her bills, but now it's impossible.

"I can remember my electricity and my gas bills. I could pay them every quarter. And I could pay them off in full," she said.

"And you know they were maybe $200, $300, $400 over the winter, for the quarter. It's about four times that price now.

"I mean, I can be paying $400 a month now."

She is using the same heaters she always has.

"I don't have any fancy appliances, only a small fridge, a small television, just a little washing machine and microwave oven. They got me to put in these energy efficient light globes," she said.

"None of it really makes a difference, the bill just keeps going up, it's just dreadful."

She said this winter had already been "bitter".

"I get dressed to go to bed," she said.

"I put on all my polar fleeces and big woollens and two pairs of socks, then the doonas and fleece blankets."

Ms Graham stopped working 15 years ago to become her mother's full-time carer.

"I got very little assistance, so money just went out the window," she said.

After years out of the workforce she never made it back and now relies on a pension, but she can't cover her costs.

"I tried to catch up, and you just can't," she said.

"At the moment I think I owe, gosh, maybe $5500 on my energy bill.

"And the minute you try to put away some money to make extra payments it gets spent elsewhere, because everything is just going up.

"So I think I'll just probably die in this humongous debt."

Ms Graham said she used nearly no energy in the summer months, but winter was "the worst time".

"You're just sitting there in this cold, damp place, it really affects your health," she said.

"So you have this choice: do I just turn the heater on and hang the bill and let it accumulate, or do I just sit there in the cold with condensation dripping down the walls and windows.

"I find myself turning the heater on and then thinking 'no I can't afford it' and turning it off again. It's just frightful."

Dozens of Victorians contacted ACM to share similar stories.

In Ballarat, where winter is piercingly cold, many residents said they would forgo heating entirely.

"I won't have gas heating over winter this year, rent and food comes first if I can afford that." Ballarat local Chris Murray said.

"Last winter I had ice on the inside of my windows . Pneumonia was the result. Sat in Ballarat Base Hospital for 7.5 hours in the respiratory section, which was a hallway with chairs."

Michelle Park said she was in a similar situation.

"My partner is in a wheelchair and has multiple sclerosis and I have lupus," she said.

"We don't turn on turn on heater at all just can't afford it, just put on an extra layer of clothes."

Gillian Keamy said she wasn't sure how she would make ends meet.

"My gas is over $1000 and winter is just started I do not know what to do," Ms Keamy said.

Noel Young said as a renter he had few options when it came to heating.

"I'm... on a financial hardship payment plan. I'm still paying off last winter's bills, let alone what's coming this winter," she said.

Others had yearly bills of well over $10,000. Kat Young sent in her bill from April 2023 to April 2024, which totalled $11,112.89.

Jake Whitburn-Weber said he had only just paid off his $3000 gas bill from last winter.

Many like Helen Straga said they had medical conditions which left them no choice but to keep the heating on and rack up a crushing bill.

"With my cold bones I rely on the gas heater. Just have to suck it up pay our bills first and manage with the pennies we have left," Ms Straga said.

Anne Tobin said she stayed indoors because of health issues that made her vulnerable to the cold, but her unit was also "very cold".

"So over summer I paid extra for both gas and electricity every pension day and at the moment am OK, however as costs keep going up for everything payments may be shortened and no heating until late afternoon."

This year's icy winter has hit an unprecedented number of vulnerable Victorians.

Uniting Vic.Tas. said the number of people asking for financial literacy help has risen 173 per cent in the past year.

Energy and financial literacy program manager Matt Cairns said energy rationing was a huge concern.

"There are already a lot of people who are self-managing their energy consumption, and not always in a safe way," Mr Cairns said.

"Especially in the elderly community we see a lot of people who are switching off their heating over winter because of what they think that bill is going to look like at the end of winter.

"That's obviously a really big health issue for for a lot of people."

Mr Cairns said the problem was growing steadily worse, especially since COVID.

"Before COVID people were able to move money from different buckets that they had and move around the different essentials they needed to cover and focus on the ones that were important that that particular time," he said.

"But because of the rising cost of living over the last 18 months two years those buckets are empty. There's nowhere to take the money from because it's all already committed to those absolute essentials.

"And most of them no longer have that savings buffer either, so they're finding it really difficult to get through."

He said it was no longer just people outside the workforce that were struggling to pay their heating bills in winter.

"It's also starting to hit middle income families. We're finding people who you know both partners are working but they're just not been able to keep up with their own expenses especially with all the rate rises from the banks," he said

"There are a lot of parents who are consistently going without food in order to feed their kids, that's something we're seeing more and more."