Energy trade association Energy UK has stated that debt owed to the energy retail sector has risen to as much as $3.6 billion and called for energy regulator Ofgem and the government to ensure that cost distributional impacts are “properly evaluated”.
The figure stated by Energy UK chief executive Emma Pinchbeck, who was delivering remarks at Ofgem’s recent Vulnerability Summit, would cost around £129 per household on average and outstrip the energy regulator’s own 2022 estimates which put retail debt at around £2.5 billion.
“It’s important to recognise the sheer scale of this and to talk explicitly about the overlaps between fuel poverty, vulnerability and people struggling to pay bills,” Pinchbeck said. “These are not actually the same thing and the measures that we need to tackle them are sometimes the same, but they are sometimes very different and sometimes require trade-offs.”
Pinchbeck continued that throughout the energy crisis, Energy UK has been “very clear” that it expects the highest standards from industry.
“The regulator needs to be clear about the rules, and then to enforce them effectively,” she added. “To make a real dent in vulnerability, and to allow vulnerable households access to fair, and reliable energy services, the big thing we actually need to do is tackle the cost of heating buildings.”
Pinchbeck concluded by pointing out that insulating homes in Britain and installing heat pumps could benefit the economy by around £7 billion per year and create 140,000 new jobs by 2030, while also helping people to stay warm throughout the winter.
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