Citizens Advice responds to latest Ofgem price cap announcement
Responding to Ofgem’s latest price cap announcement, Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said:
“This small rise in the price cap will mean another tough winter for the seven million people living in households in debt to their energy supplier. Our advisers are hearing from those at the sharpest end of this crisis: families that can only afford to heat one room and people wearing gloves inside to stay warm.
“With bills still drastically higher than before the energy crisis, and due to rise again from April, it's high time for decisions about the longer term. In next week’s Budget, the government must cut electricity bills by shifting some policy costs into general taxation, or spreading them more evenly between gas and electricity. This could bring electricity bills down by hundreds of pounds, especially for those with the most stretched household budgets.
“The government must also use the Warm Homes Plan to make substandard homes easier and cheaper to heat - rowing back on this manifesto promise would trap people in cold, leaky homes for years to come. And to help those struggling most, we must see a strengthening of targeted support like the Warm Home Discount.”
Statistics from Citizens Advice:
The charity’s advice service shows:
As of October 2025, the average energy debt held by someone seeking energy debt support at Citizens Advice was nearly £1,700, £700 higher than it was three years ago
Already this year (January-October 2025), Citizens Advice has issued nearly 63,000 fuel vouchers, and the winter season is only just beginning
The charity’s latest research into energy affordability shows nearly seven million people are now living in households in debt to their supplier - that’s around 10% of households in Great Britain
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Notes to editors:
A household’s total energy bill is broken down into different costs, including the amount of energy you’ve used and the amount you pay to cover the cost of the pipes and wires that carry energy to your home. ‘Policy costs’ are added to bills to pay for government policy, like the Warm Home Discount, or upgrading cold, leaky homes. Most policy costs are currently paid for through electricity bills.
A report by Nesta, "How to make electricity cheaper", suggests that reforming policy costs could reduce energy bills by hundreds of pounds for over 8 million households. Separate analysis by Energy UK of Ofgem data shows that, with these reforms, the typical dual fuel consumer (electricity and gas) would save £70-£75 per year, while households using direct electric heating - who are at the highest risk of fuel poverty - could see their bills reduced by £180 a year.
If the government chooses to rebalance policy costs between electricity and gas, this would need to be done carefully to prevent people who use more gas - like households on lower incomes - from paying more. That means any changes must be accompanied by changes to the Warm Home Discount, to provide more support to people with gas heating.
Local Citizens Advice data shows that, as of October 2025, the average client receiving specialist debt support has a debt of £1685 for their energy usage. This is calculated using debts for electric, gas and dual fuel both to current and previous suppliers. The number of fuel vouchers issued is also taken from our local client case data, and it is not a representation of how many fuel vouchers have been issued in total, as some clients may have received more than one, while others may have not been eligible.
Citizens Advice’s report from February 2025, "Frozen in Place: Why the Government needs to move quicker to address energy affordability", found 6.7 million people are living in households in debt to their supplier. The report is based on research from the charity, with polling carried out by Yonder Data Solutions.
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 2.68 million people face to face, over the phone, by email and webchat in 2023-24. And we had 51.7 million visits to our website. For full service statistics see our monthly publication Advice trends.
Citizens Advice service staff are supported by more than 19,000 trained volunteers, working at over 1,900 service outlets across England and Wales.
Citizens Advice is the statutory consumer advocate for energy and postal markets. We provide supplier performance information to consumers and policy analysis to decision makers.
You can get consumer advice from the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133 or 0808 223 1144 for Welsh language speakers