UK weather: Freezing cold and ice warnings on day heating bills surge to new highs

Millions face £700 hike to gas and electric costs as temperatures plunge

March ended with snow and there’s more cold weather on the way (PA)

Britons were hit with cold wintry conditions this morning with energy bills set to surge to unprecedented levels after the price cap was lifted.

Weather warnings for ice were in place for parts of England and Scotland as millions of people woke up to a yearly average increase of £700 in gas and electricity costs, with the Met Office issuing a further alert for Saturday.

Charities warned that 2.5 million more households are set to face a fuel crisis, with a cold weekend ahead.

The conditions mean many will be faced with the choice of enduring the cold or paying more as they heat their homes to stay warm.

One charity CEO went further and warned "people will die" from being unable to properly heat their homes.

The Met Office forecast for Saturday shows temperatures as low as -1C (Met Office)

It’s a dramatic turnaround from last week’s sunshine when the mercury hit 20C in some places.

On Thursday it dipped to 2C while the warmest temperatures recorded in Devon and Cornwall was just 6C. Meterologists recorded 1C in Aberdeenshire and North Yorkshire.

The Met Office has issued a new ice warning for Saturday, covering the North East of England from midnight until 10am.

This was the scene when snow fell in Cumbria on Wednesday (PA Wire)

Northeastern areas will be the worst hit by the wintry weather on Friday, and the Met Office has issued a new yellow weather warning for ice during the early morning - including rush hour.

The alert means frosty surfaces could cause injuries from slips and falls, as well as travel disruption.

As a 54 per cent increase to Ofgem's price cap hit bills, the Resolution Foundation think tank said the number of English households in fuel stress - those spending at least 10 per cent of their total budgets on energy bills - was set to double overnight from 2.5 to five million.

Jonathan Marshall, a senior economist at the thinktank, said: "Today's energy price cap rise will see the number of households experiencing fuel stress double to five million.

"Another increase in energy bills this autumn hastens the need for more immediate support, as well as a clear, long-term strategy for improving home insulation, ramping up renewable and nuclear electricity generation, and reforming energy markets so that families' energy bills are less dependent on global gas prices."

The biggest jump in domestic energy bills in living memory has come into effect (Jacob King/PA) (PA Wire)

Citizens Advice said around five million people would be unable to pay their energy bills from April, even accounting for the support the Government has already announced.

It warned this number would almost triple to one in four people in the UK - more than 14 million - if the price cap rises again in October based on current predictions.

Meanwhile, Adam Scorer, the CEO of National Energy Action, said "people will die" from being unable to properply heat their homes.

"It hits the very basis of your quality of life in your home," he said.

"It's the biggest, most colossal energy shock we've ever had, and we haven't done enough to prevent it doing real harm.

"We've seen it coming for a long time - since the end of the year."

MET OFFICE OUTLOOK

Today:

Sunny spells and further wintry showers, most frequent along parts of the north and east coasts. A more organised area of rain affecting parts of western Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Tonight:

Wintry showers with ice risk in east. Rain/sleet in west continuing to sink south with some hill snow and perhaps to low levels in places. Elsewhere, clear with widespread frost.

Saturday:

Cold start, though milder in the west under thicker cloud and showers. Some wintriness likely, mainly for high ground of Wales and Southwest before clearing. Elsewhere, sunshine and scattered showers.

Outlook for Sunday to Tuesday:

Dry and bright in the south on Sunday. Otherwise, often cloudy with rain at times, this most persistent in the northwest, with some drier, brighter spells in the southeast.