MARTIN Lewis has warned of potential “consumer strikes” over soaring energy bills.
Households across the UK have been left with rising food, fuel and energy prices as inflation hits 9.4%.
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Its means people’s money is not going as far as the price of essentials such as food and petrol all rocket in the cost of living.
Asked on ITV’s flagship political show Peston last night whether he feared civil unrest, Mr Lewis said: “The big movement that I am seeing is an increase of growth in people calling for a non-payment of energy bills, mass non-payment.
“Effectively a consumer strike on energy bills and getting rid of the legitimacy of paying that.
“It’s small at the moment – there’s a Twitter handle with about 5k followers.”
Mr Lewis described the current sentiment as “close to a Poll Tax” situation, with the energy bill price cap set to rise in October.
The Poll Tax was a policy brought in by former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1989, which proved incredibly unpopular and eventually led to rioting.
Mr Lewis added: “We need the government to get a handle on that because once it starts becoming socially acceptable not to pay energy bills people will stop paying energy bills and you’re not going to cut everyone off.”
Robert Peston asked Mr Lewis if he had heard anything constructive from the Conservative leadership candidates so far.
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He said: “My biggest frustration is this core financial cataclysm was missing from the debate.
“It was mentioned in a cursory basis, it was mentioned as an adjunct to talking about tax cuts.
“Tax cuts of course will put more money in people’s pockets, but they won’t help the poorest who have the least financial resilience because most of them are on the full state pension and nothing else and those on the lowest end of universal credit don’t pay tax.
“They don’t earn enough to pay tax so it won’t help them and my great frustration is the lack of this in the debate, the lack of what’s coming in October.”
If you’re considering not paying your energy bills though you should be careful.
If you don’t pay a bill after 28 days, your supplier may contact you to tell you they’re disconnecting your supply.
However, this rarely happens and it’s more likely you’ll have a prepayment meter installed instead.
If your supplier does turn off your energy, they must give you a chance to pay your debt through a payment plan.
So you should talk to your supplier about your repayment options if you’re struggling to afford the costs.
What to do if you’re struggling with your bills
Falling behind on your bills can be extremely stressful, but there is help if you’re struggling.
Many local councils have Welfare Assistance schemes.
Help across them varies, but you could be in line for free cash, food vouchers and targeted help on rent or energy bills.
However, it’s important to know some councils don’t even have a scheme in place, so it can be a postcode lottery as to whether you can get help.
The Household Support Fund is another avenue though.
It was launched by the government last October and allots money to local councils for them to dish out to those in need.
What you’ll get again depends on where you live, but some councils have already started dishing out support through food vouchers, cash and more.
Councils have until September 30 to dish out support to households in need.
To find out whether you’re eligible, you’ll have to apply through your nearest council, as they will be responsible for distributing the funding.
To find out what your council is, you can use the government’s council locator tool.
Some energy suppliers are offering out cash grants to the households hardest hit by bill rises.
British Gas is one – it is offering £750 to customers who have less than £1,000 saved up and are struggling to pay their bills.
It’s always worth asking your supplier what help is on offer.
