Citizens Advice responds to latest Ofgem price cap increase
Responding to the latest Ofgem price cap announcement, Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said:
“We’re helping people every day who simply can’t afford this latest price hike. It comes as our research shows the number of people living in a household in debt to their energy supplier has reached a new high of nearly seven million.
“We’re particularly concerned about households with children, where over one in three struggle to afford bills, rising to more than half of those on low incomes.
“The government can’t let another winter go by without targeted support for those most in need, and there is a way of paying for this. Our recent analysis found energy network companies made billions in excess profits while households have faced soaring bills, and it’s only right this money be used to help fund better targeted bill support and much-needed debt relief.”
As the winter draws to a close, new Citizens Advice research shows:
6.7 million people in Great Britain are living in a household in debt to their energy supplier.
Nearly two thirds (64%) in energy debt say they’ve had to ration energy in the last year, including switching off or turning down heating or water as a result of their debt. That’s equal to 4.45 million people.
Three in ten (30%) households said they find it difficult to afford their energy bills, equal to over 8.3 million households or nearly 20 million people.
Energy network company profits:
Citizens Advice has found energy network companies, which provide pipes and cables to people’s homes, have pocketed nearly £4 billion in excess profits over the last four years.
The charity wants network companies to use the money to support those struggling with rising costs, by funding targeted energy bill support and debt write-off schemes.
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Notes to editors:
Citizens Advice’s latest report, Frozen in Place: Why the Government needs to move quicker to address energy affordability, is available online. It is based on new research from the charity, with polling carried out by Yonder Data Solutions.
Survey data is based on an online representative poll of 2014 GB adults conducted by Yonder Data Solutions for Citizens Advice. Fieldwork conducted between 26th January and 13th February. Scaling up is based on the most recent estimate of GB households of approximately 28 million, and an average household size of 2.36 people. In addition to the nationally representative sample, Yonder also provided boosted numbers for Scotland and Wales, and boosts for low-income households, households with children, and pensioners.
Citizens Advice’s report, Debt to society: what the network companies should do with their windfall profits, is available on the Citizens Advice website. Network company outperformance figures are taken from the company reporting to Ofgem. Total debt outperformance reported to date from the current price control is £3.9bn (adjusted to 2023/4 prices). Company performance data is available on the Ofgem website.
Citizens Advice is made up of the national charity Citizens Advice; the network of independent local Citizens Advice charities across England and Wales; the Citizens Advice consumer service; and the Witness Service.
Our network of charities offers impartial advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free.
Citizens Advice helped 2.68 million people face to face, over the phone, by email and webchat in 2023-24. And we had 51.7 million visits to our website. For full service statistics see our monthly publication Advice trends.
Citizens Advice service staff are supported by more than 19,000 trained volunteers, working at over 1,900 service outlets across England and Wales.
Citizens Advice is the statutory consumer advocate for energy and postal markets. We provide supplier performance information to consumers and policy analysis to decision makers.
You can get consumer advice from the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133 or 0808 223 1144 for Welsh language speakers.