Households have suffered energy price rises eight times higher than the average increase in earnings over the past three years, according to Citizens Advice.
Chief executive Gillian Guy is calling for government levies on bills to be scrapped as the organisation warns that families will reach crisis point this winter as they struggle to heat their homes and eat.
Citizens Advice has calculated that the Big Six gas and electricity suppliers have raised prices by a total of 36% since October 2010, with average earnings going up by only 4.4% in the same period. Price rises of three times the rate of inflation are now commonplace but the new figures show how the comparison with household incomes, which are below the inflation rate, is even more stark.
Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy said: “Enormous escalations in energy prices are creating a desperate situation in many households. People find they do not have enough money coming in to pay for everyday essentials, as increases in daily costs are outstripping low rises in earnings.
“As we head into winter, and the latest price rises begin to kick in, more and more people are likely to reach crisis point as they struggle to heat their homes and feed their families.” She urged the government not to cut support for poorer households and pensioners.
Energy suppliers claim levies to fund energy efficiency measures for such households are a large part of the reason for increasing prices. A change in the policy is widely expected to be announced in Chancellor George Osborne’s autumn statement next month.
Ms Guy said: “Paying for these costs through taxation would be a much fairer approach and would avoid low income households funding the very support that is supposed to help them.”