Martin Lewis calls for ‘zombie government’ to take urgent action over £3,500 energy bills

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss should not wait for end of Tory leadership race to act, consumer champion says

The government must release an imminent package of support to help struggling households cope with soaring energy bills, Martin Lewis has urged.

With an energy price cap rising to £3,500 or more, the Money Saving Expert founder said the “zombie government” must not wait until the end of the Tory leadership contest to decide on help for households.

He dismissed the extra help promised by Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss during their leadership bids as “trivial” in the face of bills which are set to be £2,300 a year higher than they were last October.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “It’s going to throw many households into a terribly difficult financial situation that will leave them making some awful choices.”

Mr Lewis says government should release urgent package of support to help households cope with energy bills (PA)

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the data that informs the price cap suggested it would increase 77 per cent on top of a 52 per cent rise in April, taking the typical bill to £3,500 a year.

“Others say it will be higher,” he warned. “We are expecting it to rise again in January.”

Mr Lewis said the choice facing the government was “you either have to cut prices for people or you have to put more money in their pockets, especially at the poorest level”.

But he added: “The problem is we have this zombie government at the moment that can’t make any big decisions.

“You have to look at the timing issues here. The formal announcement of the price cap will be towards the end of August.”

“That would trigger companies to inform their customers about an increase in their direct debits.

“People will be panicking, it will be desperate - they are already panicking right now,” he said.

“By September 5 when we have a new prime minister, we will already be absolutely in the mire of this.”

In a message to Mr Sunak, Ms Truss and Mr Johnson, he said: “Please, go and sit in a room together, make a collective decision now of what help you can give and make an announcement to forestall the mental health damage that is coming across the country.”

He said “there needs to be action now, you are all in the same party, you should be able to work out some unifying policy, something for heaven’s sake”.

“Sit in a room, decide what you are going to do together, take a little bit of collective action and give the panicking people across the country a little bit of respite from this.”

The leadership contest between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss is delaying urgently needed decisions, Mr Lewis says (AP)

Ms Truss has promised to remove green levies from bills to bring the cost down, while Mr Sunak has pledged to temporarily exempt energy costs from VAT.

But Mr Lewis said: “We need political will to get this done. I’m afraid green levies and cutting VAT, they are trivial in the big picture of this.”

It comes as oil giant Shell reported record profits of $11.5bn, doubling its earnings in a single year while British Gas owner Centrica has seen operating profits increase five-fold to £1.34 billion as energy bills soar.

Both companies profits were substantial increases on earnings compared to the same period last year, sparking fury from commentators amid a worsening inflation and cost of living crisis.

Follow the latest updates on energy prices here.