A MOTHER “self-disconnected” the gas supply to her home due to surging energy prices, an anti-poverty charity has claimed.

Kirsty McKechnie, from Child Poverty in Action Group Scotland, said the lone parent with two young children was still being hit with a standing charge after making the decision to disconnect her gas last year.

She told BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Saturday: “I worry about the sheer number of families who will find themselves struggling over the forthcoming decisions about whether you heat the home or whether you feed your children.”

Ms McKechnie said the new package of support measures for low-income households to manage the cost-of-living crisis were “welcome” but argued they were temporary.

She said: “We know that there are lots of families who have been experiencing our cost-of-living crisis for some time. 

“It’s a rising tide, it’s catching more and more families.”

Faye Dearnaley, from Levenmouth, Fife, said she was having “sleepless nights” over her rising costs.

She told Good Morning Scotland: “The pressure is a bit unbearable."