Martin Lewis warns the public could stop paying energy bills in ‘poll tax’ moment

Martin Lewis has warned that people could stop paying their energy bills as the cost of living crisis worsens.

In scenes similar to the early ‘90s poll tax riots, the financial journalist told ITV’s Peston show that a Twitter account asking people to cancel their direct debit payments has been gaining followers.

Don’t Pay UK is calling for action from October 1st if the energy companies don’t reduce bills to ‘an affordable level’, taking inspiration from the riots in response to Margaret Thatcher’s poll tax reforms.

Lewis has now issued a warning, saying that the UK is nearing a ‘poll tax moment’ – energy bills are forecast to increase even further in autumn. 

He said: “We need the government to get a handle on that, because once it starts becoming socially acceptable not to pay energy bills, people will stop paying energy bills and you’re not going to cut everyone off.”

Lewis went on to say that the cost of living crisis was barely mentioned by candidates in the recent Conservative leadership debates.

He said: “It was mentioned as an adjunct to talking about tax cuts.

“Tax cuts, of course, will put more money in people’s pockets, but they won’t help the poorest who have the least financial resilience because most of them are on the full state pension and nothing else and those on the lowest end of universal credit don’t pay tax.”

Lewis has been looking into the latest estimates of expected rises in bills, revealing recently that it left him ‘feeling sick’.

The money saving expert has issued a warning to households, saying the energy price cap is currently forecast to increase by roughly £450 more than previously predicted.

He took to Twitter to warn his followers that the cap is now expected to go up by a whopping 64% in October.

This could mean we end up spending £3,244 a year on energy bills.

ITV

Back in May Ofgem predicted the October cap would rise to around £2,800, but the latest estimates from Cornwall Insight – one of the UK’s premier energy consultancies – has revealed further bad news.

Their predictions are based on what an average household spends on gas and electricity in a year, with Cornwall predicting the price cap could rise by several hundreds of pounds more than was previously forecast in January.

This means bills could rise by £1,393 – from £1,971 currently to £3,364 – by 2023, if the predictions are correct.

Lewis said: “I feel sick writing this! I’ve just got the latest price cap predictions from Cornwall Insight. A huge spike in the key year-ahead wholesale price means October cap prediction UP 64% (so £3,244/yr on typical bills). January cap prediction UP 4% (so £3,363/yr).”