SuffolkNews podcast: Bury St Edmunds mum speaks of 'stress' at Octopus Energy fixed tariff price hike totalling over £4,000

In today's podcast, a mother has spoken of 'the enormous pressure and stress' she has felt after being quoted more than £4,000 to fix in her energy for a year.

Naomi Mayer, 49, who lives in Bury St Edmunds with her husband and two children, faced an estimated annual rise in their gas and electricity bill by £2,831, which makes their total bill £4,243 - a 200 per cent rise.

Their current fixed rate with Octopus Energy ends later this month.

A spokesman for Octopus energy told Suffolk News the family have the option to 'do nothing' and roll onto their standard variable tariff ‘Flexible Octopus’ which, for an average household, would work out as £1,921.

Also, firefighters from Suffolk and Norfolk had attended a ‘well alight’ blaze in Brandon.

At the time of recording, crews from Newmarket, Brandon, Methwold, Mildenhall, Ixworth and Thetford were called to help extinguish the 200 by 200 metre fire in undergrowth in London Road, near North Court bend.

A spokesperson for Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said police have been asked to help with traffic management.

The fire has since been extinguished and crews have stepped down.

And finally, an Ipswich-based sustainable packaging business has joined forces with an Anglo-Italian wine brand to produce their first paper bottle.

Sustainable packaging business, Frugalpac, teamed up with When in Rome, to make the paper packaging which has been selected by Ocado and will be available to buy as early as May.

The Ipswich business made the paper wine bottles as a way to reduce the carbon footprint that comes with single-use glass bottles, which alongside transportation of wine, makes up 39% of the industry's carbon emissions.