Customers owe billions to energy firms ahead of tough winter, leading industry figure warns

Customers across the UK are in £3.2bn worth of debt to energy firms before this winter’s price hikes have even hit, a leading industry figure has told Sky News.

The chief executive of trade association Energy UK, Emma Pinchbeck, said the number could be even higher than her organisation’s statistics state, and the colder months could bring even more problems due to the end of customer support schemes brought in through the energy crisis and a further “build up of debt”.

Her comments came as energy firms met government ministers for a roundtable in Downing Street on Wednesday to discuss how both sides could help people struggling with their bills this winter.

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Concerns have been raised in light of the 10% rise in the energy price cap due to kick in in October, as well as the government’s decision to scrap the winter fuel allowance for pensioners who do not receive pension credit.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh said a “framework” had been agreed to run a national campaign to reach out to struggling customers, to provide debt advice and support to those who need it and to offer “continued financial support for our most vulnerable”.

But there appeared to be no plans for extra funding or support schemes to help those in need.

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Asked why the government was making life more difficult for pensioners in particular when it came to energy bills, Ms Fahnbulleh said: “None of us came into the government wanting to target the winter fuel payment. But in the end, we’ve got to respond to the world that we’ve inherited, not the world that we would have liked.

“And yes, the chancellor has had to make a tough decision on this. [But] my priority and the priority of everyone around that table is what we do this winter to support customers who are struggling with bills, customers that are vulnerable. And I feel confident that we have the beginnings of a package.”

Ms Pinchbeck also attended the meeting and said it was “productive”, with all parties coming to the table with “good ideas” and accepting there was a “shared responsibility for managing… [and] fixing the problem”.

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She said as a result she was “confident” a solution could be found and expected “practical steps” to come from the gathering – though she would not reveal what.

However, she pointed to calls from Energy UK itself for a doubling the warm homes discount for the most vulnerable in the short-term, and stronger investment into green technologies to bring prices down in the future.

Ms Pinchbeck said overall she wanted to see “something enduring for people so we are not doing this meeting every September when the price cap goes up”.

The trade association boss added: “It cannot be tenable now to have £3bn worth of debt sat on supplier books and no clear solution to that, whilst also knowing that we have got millions of customers struggling with the high costs of energy, both this winter and on an ongoing basis, and not have clear solutions to that either.

“We can’t keep going as we are. I have been doing this job for five years and every winter I end up talking to the public about how worried we are about people’s energy bills.

“We know from our own data and from Citizens Advice that debt is getting worse, and that debt is currently carried by suppliers and funded by all of our energy bills, and there is an economic cost to that as well as a social cost to that and we need a solution for it.”