'I can't afford to put the heating on - it's so cold friends won't visit me'

Julie Prince, 52, says friends won't come round as her home is so cold

A woman who can't afford to turn the heating on says friends have started refusing to visit her house - because it is so cold. Julie Prince earns £27,000 a year working as a civil servant.

But, with her mortgage and bills taking up 80 per cent of her monthly salary, the 52-year-old says she barely has enough left to live. She can only afford to go food shopping once every five weeks, and ramping up the heating is a strict no-no.

But Julie, from Somerset, says the temperature in her home is now so low pals have stopped coming over. She said: “A friend was going to visit me tonight but declined when he realised I wouldn’t have my heating on."

Julie said that if she were to put the heating on, her monthly energy bill w