Are you honestly proposing that an increase in cold related deaths beyond expected levels during a cold snap is more likely to be explained by thousands of OAP’s just happening to forget to turn the heating on, rather than them not being able to afford it?
Ok, why aren’t the papers already full of those stories then? Old people die all the time. If the stories are guaranteed regardless of the governments actions, why are you bothered about the optics at all? They’re going to be the same no matter what.