Keir Starmer has described how his family's phone was cut off for "months at a time" when he was child as they struggled to pay their bills.
The Labour leader said he was not claiming he grew up in "great poverty" but he said he understood the challenges hard-pressed households are facing.
Mr Starmer was grilled on the cost of living catastrophe facing Brits this winter, with rising inflation and interest rates, and energy bills set to rocket by 80% to £3,549 a year for households on default tariffs in October.
He face criticism from one caller that Labour's plan to freeze the energy price cap at the current level was "too timid" and insisted he wasn't "kicking the can down the road".
"I completely get it," he told BBC Radio 5Live.
"My dad worked in a factory and my mum worked as a nurse. I actually do know what it is like to sit around the kitchen table not being able to pay your bills.
"I remember our utilities, our phone being cut off because we couldn't pay the bills, so I know what is going through people's minds."
Asked how long the line was cut off for, he said: "For periods of time, months at a time, but we got to a point where we couldn't pay for the utilities.
"I am not claiming great poverty or anything, but I do know what it is like to sit round the table and think we cant make ends meet.
"Millions of people will be having that anxious conversation as we speak now so... I absolutely get that."
Pressed on whether Labour should be more radical, he said that its plan was "meeting the concerns of millions of people" but acknowledged that a fresh approach will be needed by the middle of next year.
"I don't accept that is kicking the can down the road," he said.
Mr Starmer said he understood the scale of the challenge facing households, adding that "many people listening and watching this will be saying 'I can't afford that"'.
Pressed on his longer-term plans, he pointed to his party's call for a "national mission" on home insulation.
"On the question of what we do long term, I am completely up for that challenge," he insisted.
"I accept the challenge that something has got to be done in April."
The Labour leader also faced fresh pressure over his support for striking workers after a row over whether frontbenchers should be on picket lines.
He said he was a "proud trade unionist" and insisted no shadow ministers had been sacked for joining strikes.
He repeated his position that Shadow Transport Minister Sam Tarry had been fired for making up policy "on the hoof".
Mr Starmer insisted it is simply a "question of roles".
"I want to be the Labour prime minister. I don't think the role of the prime minister is (to) have a Cabinet meeting and then go on to a picket line."
