Energy bosses have warned there will be a "significantly larger number of people moving into fuel poverty" this winter, as price rises continue to bite.
The chiefs of E.ON, EDF, Scottish Power and Centrica all called on the Government to take much stronger action to help customers avoid a "crisis" this year. Scottish Power boss Keith Anderson said the Treasury should look at introducing a "social tariff" which could take as much as £1,000 off the bills of the most vulnerable.
The tariff would be funded by the industry and could require each supplier to pay a sum into a central pot based on the number of customers they serve. A discount payment would then be paid back to suppliers based on the number of customers they have in fuel poverty.
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Mr Anderson said: "There's so many people who are going to struggle with this issue and we're already seeing it. Last week we set up a new line for people to contact us, we had 8,000 calls.
"I honestly believe the size and scale of this is beyond what I can deal with, it's beyond what I think this industry can deal with and I think it needs a massive shift in government policy."
EDF chief executive Simone Rossi described how his company had recorded a 40 per cent increase in calls from customers concerned about their debt. He told MPs: "I think we've seen data showing 10 per cent of the most vulnerable customers will go from spending £1 in £12 on energy bills, to spending £1 in £6."
E.ON boss Michael Lewis added: "Clearly the price increase we've seen on the first of April was unprecedented, I've never seen anything like it my 30 years in the industry. We are expecting a severe impact on customers ability to pay, there is no doubt that the Government's intervention will help but it isn't nearly enough to mitigate the impact of this price increase.
"So what we expect to see is a significantly larger number of people moving into fuel poverty as a consequence of the price increase and indeed, potentially further increases in October and a significant increase in bad debt."
Rishi Sunak has so far offered a one-off £200 discount on energy bills in October - to be paid back over five years from 2023 - as well as a council tax rebate and an extension of the warm homes discount, worth £150, to one million more households.
But Mr Lewis warned it wasn't enough, he said: "If nothing is done further by the government to mitigate this impact, we expect to see the outstanding debt increased by around 50% on our books by the end of this year."
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