Buy an electric blanket to keep warm if you can’t afford heating, says top energy executive

The rise means energy bills will remain a third higher than before the 2022 energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and look set to remain high indefinitely.

Octopus Energy made a net profit of £203 million on revenue of £13 billion for the year ending April 2023, during which it says it spent £69 million helping customers stay warm and cut bills.

Mr Jackson said he had most recently offered support to pensioners affected by the loss of winter fuel payments.

“We have invested around £30 million in funds for those who are struggling. For example, we announced new support for older people who will not be able to pay for winter fuel this winter. And you know, almost 100 thousand people have benefited from these various funds,” he said.

The latest price rise comes as Ofgem data shows a rise in the number of people in debt due to energy bills. More than 660,000 people are in debt on gas bills and more than 800,000 are in debt on electricity bills.

Total gas and electricity debt rose to £3.7bn by the middle of this year, up from £1.7bn in mid-2021.

Dame Claire Moriarty, chief executive of Citizens Advice, also speaking on the Today programme, said: “Energy debt is now the most common type of debt we deal with… bills are now two-thirds higher than before the energy crisis ” and with the expectation that they will remain at this level for the foreseeable future.

“We just expect that people will continue to be stranded, especially families with children, especially people with disabilities – they are faced with impossible choices.”

Mr Jackson said the UK’s energy system needed major reform in the long term.

“Today our prices are too high because, firstly, we are very dependent on gas prices traded on international markets. This is now three times higher than in 2020.

“But secondly, our electricity market is so inefficient. We build wind farms, but instead of lowering our prices, we pay them to shut down when it gets too windy.

“We can’t keep building all this new infrastructure without changing the market. We are looking at spending up to £6 billion a year paying wind farms to switch off and rebalance the system by 2030 unless we reform the market. And all this adds up to bills.”