Prepayment meters may cost households a third of income this winter

Economics correspondent

- Richard Partington

Millions of vulnerable UK households on prepayment meters could find their energy bills consume almost a third of their income this winter.

As temperatures drop, the Resolution Foundation said a combination of higher gas and electricity prices, and the typical seasonal increase in energy usage over the colder months, would hit poorer families hardest.

The thinktank estimated that the 4m households with a prepayment meter would need to spend more than 30% of their income, after housing costs, on energy over the next three months.

As prepayment gas and electricity meters are typically concentrated among low-income households, it warned this drain on family finances would be "unsustainable, leading to a risk of families sitting in cold, dark homes".

Households have come under renewed pressure from rising energy bills as events in Russia and the Middle East led to fluctuations in wholesale energy prices.