Fears retirees will suffer in power hike  Posted April 13, 2012
06:54:38  A retirees lobby group says it fears pensioners in the
state's west will cut back on food and medicine to be able to
pay the rising cost of electricity.  The Independent Pricing and
Regulatory Tribunal is recommending power prices increase by 16
per cent from July.  The Combined Pensioner and Superannuants
Association of New South Wales says rebates do not do enough to
reduce the pressure on regional customers, who pay more because
the infrastructure costs are higher outside the city.  The
spokesman Antoine Mangion says many low income households do not
have the capacity to reduce their usage to cut costs.  "One
thing we do no, a lot of pensioners fear what might happen, the
repercussions of not paying their bills," he said.  "So they
will often pay their electricity bill for example, and go
without other essentials such as reduce food or even medications
in some instances.  "So unfortunately these have very major
repercussions in many