Major energy supplier is giving away free electric blankets this winter

Shouldn't really have to come to this should it?

Octopus Energy is handing out free electric blankets this winter to help keep customers warm this winter as energy bills soar. Energy prices for the average household rose from £1,971 to £2,500 a year on October 1. In response to this, Octopus Energy is handing out free electric blankets to some of its 3.1 million customers to help them keep warm this winter. The blankets will be handed out to those in the most financial need, but the exact eligibility criteria will be published when the scheme opens on Monday, October 10. Customers will be able to fill in an online form to apply for one of the 10,000 blankets. Electric blankets can be a cheaper way of keeping warm instead of relying on central heating. The company launched a similar scheme last winter, when they offered 8,000 blankets to customers. Octopus Energy says the electric blankets helped reduce the average customer bill by 19 percent. The supplier said that the blankets will only be available to people who will benefit from them most. This is likely to include elderly people, or those with specific medical conditions which make them immobile, very unwell, or feel cold. [caption id="attachment_362525" align="alignnone" width="2048"] The electric blankets will available for Octopus' most vulnerable customers (iStock)[/caption] Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, chief product officer at Octopus Energy, says: "Octopus is doing everything we can to help customers through the crisis. "Our electric blankets scheme was just one of the measures we’ve taken to help. "And given the overwhelmingly positive feedback last year, we knew we only had one option - to make it even bigger. "Heating an individual rather than a whole home can save hundreds off a customer’s bill, and at times that we know how much people are struggling, we hope these blankets can be a real difference maker." According to Uswitch, electric blankets use 100 watts of energy to warm a double bed, and it costs just 24p to run one for one hour a day for seven days. Sarah Broomfield, Uswitch's energy expert, told the Sun: "Using an electric blanket to warm the bed may mean you can turn the temperature of your thermostat down, as you won't need your bedroom to be so hot. "And turning your thermostat down by just 1°C can save you as much as £80 a year."