The further £145-a-month hike to energy costs predicted for October could mean that one in four UK adults will be unable to afford their bills, Citizens Advice has warned.
The figure – equivalent to 14.5 million people – is a massive jump from the five million who already say they cannot afford April’s price increase of £60 a month, the charity, which included the Government’s support measures in its calculations, said.
Two in five (41%) of those warning they will be pushed into debt next month said they had already borrowed money to pay for essentials.
A general view of a gas hob burning as consumer groups are predicting that the UK's other major energy suppliers will raise prices after SSE announced an 8.2\% increase in domestic bills.
Gareth Fuller
The latest research found that 83% of those polled did not think the Government’s £200 energy rebate, anticipated to be paid into customers’ accounts in October and paid back over the following five years, would make a significant difference to their ability to pay their energy bills.
People using prepayment meters – many of whom are already on low incomes – were set to be hardest hit by rising energy prices, the charity said, as they were less able to spread the cost of their energy throughout the year and were at greater risk of being disconnected if they could not afford to top up.
Rising energy costs could see an average family on a prepayment meter facing bills of £336 a month – more than £10 a day – in December, when the same usage would have cost them £147 in December 2021, the charity warned.
The findings come ahead of next week’s spring statement, when the Chancellor has been urged to announce further support for families struggling to pay their bills.
Citizens Advice issued a ‘red alert’ warning last month as demand for its services soared, with its frontline staff helping record numbers access support such as food banks and one-off charitable grants amid the cost-of-living crisis.
In the last week alone, the charity said it had supported a woman who could not afford to top up her prepayment meter after a hospital visit meant she was left with nothing but spoiled food in the fridge and a parent who had to turn off their appliances and wash their children’s clothes at their mother’s house to save on energy costs.
An illustration of an online energy bill. Energy prices will rise by 693 a year for millions of households after regulator Ofgem hiked the price cap on bills to 1,971 or 54%. Picture date: Thursday February 3, 2022.
Jacob King
It had also helped a woman in her 70s with a chronic health condition who had started wearing multiple layers and her duvet to keep warm as she could not afford to turn on her heating.
Citizens Advice chief executive Clare Moriarty said: “These staggering findings must be a wake-up call to the Government. With one in four unable to afford their bills come October, measures announced so far simply don’t meet the scale of the challenge.
“Parents shouldn’t have to decide between giving their kids a hot bath or saving the money to buy them new school shoes.
“The Chancellor has a crucial opportunity to bring forward more support for those most in need in his spring statement next week. Increasing benefits in line with inflation, expanding the Warm Home Discount and announcing a more generous energy rebate should be top of his list.”
Embargoed to 0001 Saturday January 29 File photo dated 19/11/2014 of an elderly lady with her electric fire on at home. Nearly a quarter (24%) of older people believe they will be forced to choose between heating their home and the food they buy if their energy bills increase substantially. Issue date: Saturday January 29, 2022.
Peter Byrne
A Government spokesman said: “We recognise the pressures people are facing with the cost of living, which is why we have set out a generous £21 billion package of support.
“This includes a £150 council tax rebate from April and a further £200 energy bill discount in October to cut energy bills quickly for the majority of households, while the energy price cap continues to insulate millions of customers from volatile global gas prices.
“We will set out an energy supply strategy which will supercharge our renewable energy and nuclear capacity to bolster our domestic supply and help drive down energy costs.”
