An inquiry also found regulators did not have a “comprehensive view” of how much customers owe despite early identification of problems and intervention being considered key to limiting the impact of arrears.
With energy and water bills set to rise further, the prevalence of debt is set grow, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said, with payments owed to providers in the water and energy sectors alone hitting £7.2 billion in March 2025.
Ofgem, Ofwat and Ofcom, which regulate energy, water and internet services respectively, should focus more on encouraging companies to boost the take-up of discounted social tariffs and other support for consumers on lower incomes, the PAC said.
Currently just 6% of water customers in England and…