The Office for National Statistics released figures on Thursday highlighting a significant rise in the number of British households grappling with energy bill payments.
The data shows a striking 39% increase in failed energy bill payments last month compared to the same period a year ago, underscoring ongoing economic pressures despite a recent decrease in inflation.
Automated bill payments, particularly direct debits, widely used by most British households, saw a notable surge in failures.
Specifically, failed direct debits accounted for 1.17% of electricity and gas direct debits in the past month, up from 0.84% in December 2023.
The total Direct Debit failure rate in December 2023 witnessed a 15% increase compared to December 2022, according to the ONS.
This upward trend was primarily propelled by a notable surge of 39% in the “electricity and gas” spending category, accompanied by a 20% increase in the “mortgages” category.
