The watchdog said customers on prepayment meters are most likely to have problems paying winter fuel bills as new evidence showed they spend twice as much topping up their gas in winter compared to as in summer because they are unable to spread the cost of higher winter fuel bills throughout the year.
Citizen’s Advice said it saw a 66 per cent rise in the number of people seeking online help for problems paying fuel bills in the first three months of this year compared to the rest of 2013.
It said it has also had 12 per cent rise in the number of fuel problems reported and a ten per cent rise in the number of people contacting it about disconnection issues.
Citizens Advice’s chief executive Gillian Guy said: “A debt holiday would be a Christmas bonus for prepay customers. Delaying payments for debts will mean those people struggling to afford heat and light don’t have to make severe cut-backs.
“Energy suppliers have a real opportunity to help prepay customers this winter and begin to rebuild customers’ trust. Prepay customers can pay an average of £80 more a year on gas and electricity.”
Citizens Advice also said it would like to suppliers offer a more modern way of topping up prepayment meters, such as options to top up by text, online or over the phone so customers could avoid having to visit a shop in adverse winter weather conditions.