One in four people could be forced to turn off their heating and hot water when energy bill increases come in this autumn
Bill payers reported they’d have to take these drastic steps if the energy price cap rises by the predicted amount of £150 (a 9.2% increase)*
This comes as Citizens Advice is helping record numbers of people with energy debt, even in the height of summer
New research from Citizens Advice reveals that one in four people (25%, the equivalent of 16.5 million people) are so worried about increases in energy costs that they say they will be forced to turn off their heating and hot water this winter.
This increases to 31% of households with children, and 39% of bill payers on a low income**.
Citizens Advice is warning that without urgent intervention from the government, households will continue to face impossible choices and drastic cutbacks to be able to afford to heat their homes:
48% (35.1 million people) said they would have to turn down or turn off their heating or hot water
34% (22.8 million people) said they would have difficulty affording food or other essentials, such as their mortgage, rent or childcare, and 7% (4.5 million people) said they would be forced to skip meals.
Millions face unmanageable essential costs
Despite bills coming down slightly since last year, Citizens Advice is still helping record numbers of people with energy debt, the most common debt affecting people who seek the charity’s support. Nearly 5 million people (7% of households) across Great Britain live in households in debt to their energy supplier. This rises to more than 14% of households with children under 18.
What’s more, 5 million people are currently in a negative budget - meaning their essential monthly outgoings exceed their income. The predicted price cap increase of £150 would pull a further 187,000 people into a negative budget - that’s equal to the population of Bournemouth.
Protections are urgently needed
The government has inherited a challenging situation. With bills increasing and historic levels of energy debt, the new government must act fast to stop millions of households falling further into hardship this winter. While plans to focus the energy market on renewables could reduce energy bills in the long term, households in desperate need can’t afford to wait until then.
Citizens Advice says one action the government could take straight away is reforming the Warm Home Discount, to make sure it reaches more people and better reflects their energy needs. This would mean households with low incomes and higher energy needs - like families with children and disabled people - would be eligible for more financial support. It would also mean that pensioners who’re at the sharp end of the energy crisis would get more support than they have done under previous schemes, like the Winter Fuel Payment.
Until April, Nigel worked as a self-employed window fitter but was forced to stop working due to serious back problems. While he’s been unable to work, the price of gas and electricity has been a major source of stress for him. He has had no choice but to borrow from friends and family to pay for groceries and energy bills, and his local Citizens Advice has organised fuel and food bank vouchers for him. Nigel says:
“Trust me, I’m not looking forward to the winter. Before I got my first benefits payment, I’d had to borrow off people to cover my gas and electric. I’m moving onto Universal Credit soon, and I know that around half of the amount I’m awarded will end up going towards fuel.
“How can you make a budget work when your gas and electric is dearer than what you’re paying to actually eat? I can honestly say I can feel my body is starting to shut down because of the stress. It’s the worry of trying to find money for the electric and gas, trying to find money to get bits of food. It’s Dickensian.
“Without fuel vouchers from Citizens Advice I would have been sitting in darkness, and I wouldn’t have been able to take hot baths, which I need to ease my back pain.”
Louise Steel, Debt Caseworker and Advice Services Manager, Citizens Advice Wyre Forest, said:
“As we go into autumn and winter, we know more people will be needing our support. We rely on recruiting more volunteers in the colder months to cope with the inevitable rise in demand for our services.
“When people are struggling to keep up with their energy bills, everything else is impacted. We’ve supported people who’ve sold all their non-essential electrical appliances to help pay their rising bills. And we also have people staying in our waiting room longer than they need to, just to warm up and watch TV.
“The knock-on effect of this isn’t just financial, many of those we support with energy costs are also dealing with anxiety and depression.”
Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said:
“We’re already helping record numbers of people with energy debt, but we’re now bracing ourselves for an even more challenging winter.
“The price cap increase will see a wave of households tipped into debt, bill payers forced to make impossible decisions to make ends meet, and families worried about the impact the cold will have on their loved-ones.
“Energy prices might be down from the peak of the crisis, but with many already in the red and the removal of previous support packages, there’s still no light at the end of the tunnel for those in desperate need. The government has inherited a huge challenge, so there must be no delay in their action. We need to see targeted bill support that reflects the realities of people’s energy needs.”
-ends-
Notes to editors
Survey data based on an online representative poll of 2,209 GB adults conducted by Yonder Data Solutions for Citizens Advice. Fieldwork conducted between 26th to 28th July 2024. Scaling up based on the most recent estimate of GB households of 27,630,000, and an average household size of 2.4 people.
Question posed to respondents: If your energy bills did increase by 10%, which of the following actions would you have to take to manage your bills this winter? Please tick all that apply:
Use less heating/hot water
Switch off the heating / hot water
Go without food
Go without other essentials [By essentials we mean food, rent / mortgage payments, bills such as energy, water, broadband, mobile and council tax, childcare, transport, insurance (e.g. car insurance), medication and toiletries.]
Cut back spending on food
Cut back spending on essentials
Borrow money from family or friends to pay for essentials
Apply for a loan or grant from my local authority
*Cornwall Insight have provided Citizens Advice with written consent to republish their price cap data under the media exemption clause. The increase to the price cap amounts to £146.
**Low income refers to a household income under £21,000.
This modelling uses the Citizens Advice National Red Index monitoring tool. You can find out more about the methodology used in the tool at our website here. Our tiered WHD discount proposal is designed to provide up to a third of an average bill to people on means-tested benefits with the highest energy costs. Modelling based on a 10% increase in energy bills in October, with an inflation rate of 2.69% which accounts for a 4.9% weighting for energy (as estimated by the ONS). The modelling also corrects for an under estimation of households in the Living Cost and Food Survey at a factor of 1.029229.
Our response to announced changes to Winter Fuel Payment can be found on our 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 2.66 million people face to face, over the phone, by email and webchat in 2022-23. And we had 60.6 million visits to our website. For full service statistics see our monthly publication Advice trends.
Citizens Advice service staff are supported by more than 16,000 trained volunteers, working at over 1,600 service outlets across England and Wales.
Citizens Advice is the largest provider of free, multi-channel debt advice. Providing that help gives Citizens Advice unique insight into the types of debts people struggle with.
You can get consumer advice from the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133 or 0808 223 1144 for Welsh language speakers.