It’s heat or eat as energy crisis bites, says charity

Growing numbers of energy customers are worried about whether they will be able to afford to “eat and keep the lights on” this winter, the head of the Citizens Advice charity warned on Tuesday.

Chief executive Dame Clare Moriarty told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the service is “seeing people who are desperately worried about the costs they are facing”.

The cap on standard variable bills went up by an average of £139 in October to reflect soaring wholesale prices and is expected to rise again by several hundred pounds in April when it is next reviewed by energy regulator Ofgem.

Dame Clare added: “That goes alongside other price increases and for many of our clients the withdrawal of the £20 uplift to Universal Credit has made another huge difference to their finances. So we are seeing people who are really, really worried about whether they can eat and also keep the lights on.”

Her stark warning came the day after the collapse of Britain’s seventh biggest energy supplier Bulb, which had 1.7 million customers. Many of them now face substantial increases in their tariffs when they are moved to another supplier.

A survey published today by comparison website comparethemarket.com found that more than a third of families with children at home will reduce other expenditures such as food and luxuries if their energy bills go up significantly.

Bulb is the latest and the largest in a list of more than 20 energy suppliers that have failed since the start of September as gas prices soared.

It said it would back regulator Ofgem’s efforts to appoint a special administrator — a process designed to protect customers when a large energy supplier can no longer trade. Bulb becomes the first energy supplier to rely on regulator Ofgem’s special administration regime.

In the past Ofgem has dealt with collapsed energy suppliers through its supplier-of-last-resort process, which simply moves thousands of customers from the failed company to another supplier.

Emma Pinchbeck, the head of trade body Energy UK, said: “We cannot rule out well run, financially responsible companies exiting the market — in addition to those that have already left.”