Soaring energy bills could cost lives – and are a national crisis on the scale of the pandemic, Martin Lewis has warned.
The consumer champion spoke out amid growing calls for the bickering Tories to pledge urgent support for struggling households.
It came as Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss signalled hard-up families may have to wait months for help.
She hit out at suggestions she should agree aid measures with No10 and rival Rishi Sunak before the contest ends on September 5.
Instead she vowed to reverse the National Insurance rise and suspend the green energy levy, but warned the parliamentary process could hamper even this plan.
She said: “I will act on day one to make it happen as soon as possible...it will happen well before April.”
Yet in just a fortnight energy regulator Ofgem is due to announce the new energy price cap, which experts predict could raise an average £1,971-a-year dual-fuel standard tariff by 82% to £3,582.
And this week consultants Cornwall Insight predicted the cap will jump to an average £4,266 in January, then £4,426 next April.
Mr Lewis hit out at the idea that no help can be agreed until after a new Prime Minister is in post.
The money saving expert told ITV ’s Good Morning Britain: “That is complete bull. That is simply not true.
“What we’re facing here is a financial emergency that risks lives.”
And he told Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s a national crisis on the scale of the pandemic.”
Hitting out at Ms Truss’s tax-cutting approach, he said it would “not help the millions of the poorest in society who are making the choice between heating and eating because they don’t pay tax”.
Calls are growing for a host of measures including one-off payments of up to £1,000 for those most in need and a new windfall tax on energy giants making a mint on soaring wholesale prices.
Adam Scorer of charity National Energy Action urged the two leadership contenders simply to confirm help would be forthcoming, even if details of how it would be delivered came later.
He told the Mirror: “They just have to say, ‘We will at least cover the October price rise for the most vulnerable’. Time is of the essence but I’m hearing nothing about what their plans are.”
He said the charity was being inundated with pleas for help, adding: “All organisations like us are putting staff onto suicide awareness training because people are saying I can’t find a way through, I’m going to end it.”
He warned there could be an “epidemic” of people cutting themselves off from their energy supply for much of the winter as they cannot afford to pay for heating.
He added: “There is a straight line between cold homes and excess winter deaths.”
Derek Lickorish, chairman of energy firm Utilita and former head of the Committee on Fuel Poverty, called for “unity of purpose” between Boris Johnson and the two candidates to replace him.
He called for those struggling most to be offered £800 to £1,000 in help.
Campaigners fear 9.2 million households – over 28% – will be left in fuel poverty when prices rise in October, even with the £400 one-off discount on bills this autumn already announced by the Government.
That could rise to 10.5 million households from January – or 32.6%.
Simon Francis of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition said: “A tsunami of fuel poverty will hit the country this winter.”
Philippe Commaret of energy giant EDF said current support was not enough.
Energy bosses have been summoned to a meeting with Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng today.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke insisted the Government was devising a fresh package of cost-of-living support for the next PM to consider when they take office on September 6.
Former Chancellor Mr Sunak said he felt a “moral responsibility” to help strugglling families more this autumn and winter.
He later suggested total support for families could be lifted to “£700 to £800” through a cut to VAT on energy bills, on top of existing support.
Lib Dem Treasury spokeswoman Sarah Olney said: “Families are being dragged into the worst financial crisis in a generation, but Truss and Sunak are too busy attacking each other rather than helping those in need.”
