Energy firms using sharp practices to boost cashflow, says Martin Lewis

‘We need to pump more money into the system or we need a vulnerable user price cap,’ says Martin Lewis Photograph: Adrian Dennis/BBC/AFP/Getty Images

Energy companies are using unfair and potentially illegal tactics to secure cash at the expense of their customers amid the energy crisis, the consumer expert Martin Lewis has told MPs.

Households face a “fiscal punch in the face” in April when energy bills under the government’s price cap rise, Lewis said, a day before the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, makes his spring statement, in which he is expected to announce measures to respond to the cost of living crisis.