We hear often that energy debts are on the rise.

OFGEM publishes some data on debt levels although its not always up to date. But it does show that debts have been increasing for several years.

Debt and Arrears Indicators | Ofgem

Two tables give the average length of debt recovery plan agreed by the different energy suppliers. Those with Eon Next with gas debt had plans of an AVERAGE length of 532 weeks - presumably because the repayment is set at a comparatively low level - say £5 per week. But then that also means the average gas debt is over £2,500.

It suggests Eon Next has not been good at limiting the scale of these debts before taking corrective action. On the other hand it perhaps guarantees those customers stay for well over 10 years.

Also noteworthy that nobody gets disconnected for non payment of debt.

Elsewhere OFGEM also gave these figures on the number of customers (not separate gas and electricity accounts) having SVT, prepayment, and fixed accounts:

Updated number of customers on different tariff types as of January* 2024
New no. of customers on SVTs – ‘around 29 million’
New no. of SVT (non-PPM) customers – ‘around 24 million’
New no. of SVT PPM customers – ‘around 4 million’
Total number of customers on fixed tariffs: 'around 3 million' (with the vast majority being non-PPM)
*Latest Financial Responsibility RFI data is for January 2024. Tariff and Customer Account RFI data is for January 2024 (used to calculate the SVT payment method splits)
Current Eon Next and EDF customer, ex Zog and Symbio. Don't think dual fuel saves money and don't like smart meters. Chronologically Gifted. If I offend let me know by private message, but I’ll continue to express my opinions nonetheless.