Total energy debt in the UK has risen to a record £4.43bn, according to Ofgem statistics published in the week before 30 September 2025. National Energy Action, the fuel poverty charity for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, cited the figure in a news release dated 30 September 2025, the day before the energy price cap rose by 2 per cent1.
The charity said consumer energy debt has reached £4.43 billion, three-quarters of which is arrears with no payment plan1. The same release states the price cap rose 2 per cent, around £35 a year for a typical household, from 1 October, taking the bill for a typical household to £1,755 a year. That is almost £500 higher than in October 2021, before the energy crisis1. Ofgem estimates a typical household in England, Scotland and Wales uses 2,700 kWh of electricity and 11,500 kWh of gas a year1.
Polling by YouGov for the charity, of 2,443 adults between 25 and 26 September 2025, found 58 per cent of GB adults say they are likely to ration their heating this winter, nine percentage points more than in the charity's January 2025 polling. Among adults with a heart condition the figure was 71 per cent, and among those with asthma 64 per cent. Some 38 per cent of prepayment meter customers said they had been without credit and unable to access heating or power when they needed it at least once in the last 12 months, 13 percentage points more than in January 20251.
Adam Scorer, chief executive of National Energy Action, said:
"Unaffordable energy bills present a risk to health, and life, this winter. These findings indicate that some of the most vulnerable people are already struggling and, justifiably, extremely worried about the coming winter. Self-disconnecting from your heat and power is an act of desperation, becoming even more serious as the weather gets colder. No household should be in this situation in the UK in 2025, but many are."
He added that household energy debt is at "monstrous levels" and that Ofgem's plans to help people out of debt are welcome but "need to go much further"1.
Ofgem has announced plans to tackle the growing impacts of rising debt in the energy system. Under these plans the regulator has proposed establishing a fund called the Debt Relief Support Scheme, which suppliers would use either to write off debt so significant it will never be paid back or to help pay off debt by "debt matching" customer payments. Ofgem has also set out proposals to make it easier for consumers to get help from charities and debt support agencies and to ensure a consistent approach, to limit the risk of unsustainable debt building up again1.
Why it matters for households
Energy debt at this level sits on household accounts rather than in the wider system, and it constrains what a home can do about its own energy use. A household carrying arrears, or one of the three-quarters of debts with no repayment plan, has less room to absorb a price cap change, and less room to fund measures that would cut consumption. The polling suggests the practical effect is already visible in how homes are heated: rationing heating, and prepayment customers going without power when credit runs out, are both ways a household reduces its energy use under pressure rather than by choice1.
For energy independence at the household level, the relevant point is that debt and arrears reduce the capacity to invest in the fabric of a home or in generating and storing energy at home. The statistics do not report how many households in debt have also taken up such measures, and no breakdown of debt by nation, tenure or property type has been reported in the material cited here.
What happens next
The 2 per cent price cap rise took effect on 1 October 20251. Ofgem's proposals on the Debt Relief Support Scheme and on access to debt support are set out as plans and proposals; the release does not give dates for decisions or implementation1. National Energy Action states that the Warm Homes Plan needs to provide long-term certainty, but no timetable for it is given1.