Receivables in Action | Energy Suppliers Face Growing Amounts Owed by UK Households

The UK's energy suppliers face a growing issue of amounts owed to them by household customers - and that's before the impending energy price rises which look set to push households further into debt.

According to this report from the BBC, UK households currently owe £1.3bn to their energy suppliers, just a few weeks before household energy bills are set to rise significantly as consequence of the new energy price cap.

That £1.3bn will be included as "receivables" in the accounts of the energy businesses, as it relates to amounts owed to them from customers - in this case households.

The total is already three times higher than it was a year ago.

Six million homes across the UK owe an average of £206 to their energy provider, according to the uSwitch report referenced in the BBC article. In April the same average debt was £188.

For the energy companies, organising repayments of these receivables isn't straightforward. The relationship between household customers and energy suppliers is closely regulated by the energy industry regulator Ofgem.

According to the article:

An Ofgem spokesperson said its "priority" is to "protect consumers" and make sure suppliers treat their customers in a "fair and reasonable manner".

This included "proactively" making contact to identify if a customer is in payment difficulty, assessing repayments on a customer's ability to pay and ensuring debt management activities are done in a "fair and reasonable way", the spokesperson added. .