Low-income households 'will be £200 out of pocket' due to energy bills
Millions of low income households will be left an average of £209 short on their energy bills this financial year, new Which? research has found.
Even though the Government has kept its Energy price Guarantee at £2,500, millions of low income consumers will still face higher energy bills this financial year.
This is due to the removal of the £400 energy bill support scheme which ended in March.
The consumer group also found that when energy prices drop to around £2,000 for the average household from July, consumers will still be paying almost double the amount they paid before the energy crisis began.
Which? says the poorest 10% of households, which is around 2.8million homes, will be spending an average of £209 more on energy this year than last.
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The group also predicted that the lowest income households, who typically use less energy, will be £75 worse off a year than a household with "average energy consumption".
Which? has blasted the Government's approach to energy bill support saying that they don't have "effective means of targeting financial support towards those on the lowest incomes".
The consumer group has urged the Government to step up and introduce a "properly targeted" social tariff as "a matter of urgency".
Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at Which? said: “It’s hugely worrying that consumers on the lowest incomes could be left over £200 worse off on their energy bills this financial year due to reduced Government support."
“With millions of low-income households across the country already struggling to make ends meet, the government urgently needs to introduce a properly targeted energy social tariff to ensure the most financially vulnerable are able to heat their homes.”
Which? is not the only group calling on the Government to introduce an energy social tariff.
Martin Lewis and Energy UK have all recently backed Citizen's Advice's call to introduce a social energy tariff for those most in need.
In March of this year, the UK's Money Saving Expert said: “I’ve argued for a social tariff for years, and now it could be a crucial building block to help repair our broken consumer energy market.
“When things return to a more normal situation we must work out what energy market we want.
“There are two main routes - either regulate all pricing or have a competitive switching market. We’ve long aimed for the latter situation, but it has failed many.
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“That’s why we must be blunt and identify who are the legitimate and who are the illegitimate victims of competition.”
Last year, Citizens Advice announced that it had saw more people who couldn’t afford to top up their prepayment meter than in the previous 10 years combined.
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