BRITISH households are already struggling to cope with energy debt as the energy price cap is set to rise next month, new research revealed yesterday.

A study by Opinium for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition (EFPC) found that three in 10 (31 per cent) of adults in Britain are currently in debt to their energy company or worried about falling behind.

This increases to over 45 per cent of parents with a child under 18 and 35 per cent of disabled people, with the median amount owed to an energy supplier at £750, researchers added.

People may be turning to risky borrowing practices, they added, as one in eight (13 per cent) of those in debt or worried about missing energy payments say they owe money to someone who makes them feel scared.

Households have already resorted to turning off the heating or taking shorter showers (32 per cent) in the past six months, the study said.

They have also been keeping their homes colder or warmer than is comfortable (25 per cent) and missing rent or mortgage payments (21 per cent).

More than 21 per cent have been forced to skip meals, while 18 per cent turned to a foodbank.

Meanwhile profits in the energy industry have reached £3 billion in the first three months of this year alone, which the EFPC pointed out was equivalent to £102 per household.

EFPC co-ordinator Simon Francis said the findings figures reveal the “true cost of years of failure to fix energy debt caused by the sharp increases in bills.

“Millions of people are in debt to their energy company or worried about falling behind, and yet the price shock profiteers are posting billions in profits.

“The figures also show that this is a can’t pay crisis, not a won’t pay one.

“Very few people who are in energy debt are also in high-earning households. Instead it is ordinary people who are skipping meals, visiting foodbanks and, most alarmingly, resorting to risky forms of borrowing just to keep the lights on.

“With energy prices rising by another 13.5 per cent next month, the mental and physical health consequences of energy debt will only deepen.”

Mr Francis slammed the energy companies who “caused the debt” through profiteering and demanded the government enlist them to “contribute to clearing this debt mountain.”