ON FRIDAY, the Trades Union Congress issued a report highlighting the crisis facing millions of workers resulting from the massive increase in energy bills which it says is ‘crushing households’.
The TUC cited new data released by the energy watchdog, Ofgem, that showed that the number of households in debt on their gas and electricity bills and with no plans to repay them has shot up by over 50% since 2021.
Energy debt in the UK has passed over £5 billion for the first time, as households head into the cold winter months owing thousands of pounds to the energy companies with energy debt and arrears reaching £5.02 billion in the second quarter of 2026.
This is an increase from £4.79 billion in the first three months of the year and 13% higher than the same period in 2025.
Data from Ofgem showed that the average amount owed by electricity customers in arrears and with no repayment plans in place stood at £1,872.
For gas customers the average was £1,613.
Energy prices are set to increase even further on Thursday when Ofgem increases the cap on energy prices.
From October 1st, the cap for a typical household paying by direct debit will be £1,7234 a year – an increase of 4%.
For households using more energy the increase will be even greater.
The debt charity StepChange warned that the latest debt figures show the huge pressure on working class households and that its own clients are suffering from energy arrears that mean they owe an average of £2,676 so far this year.
StepChange said that 29% of UK adults polled were worried about not being able to pay their energy bills in the next six months.
The TUC reported that its own polling, conducted by YouGov in the three months up to late June, showed that over a third of adults had cut back on hot water to save money while over a third reported that they regularly did not use electrical appliances.
Commenting on these latest catastrophic figures, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak praised Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham for scrapping VAT on energy bills saving households a derisory £45 a year – less than £4 a month.
But the TUC and Nowak’s only solution to the crisis crushing households was yet another appeal for the Labour government to tax the massive profits being made by the banks.
The idea of a windfall tax on the banks, that the TUC claims would raise ‘up to £60 billion over the next four years’ and would help to bring down energy bills by up to £517 a year, is one that has long been used by the TUC as a means to hold back the anger of workers rising up and refusing to accept being driven into poverty to rescue a drowning capitalist system.
A windfall tax on banks, along with all the previous calls for a windfall tax on the giant energy companies, will suffer the same fate of being dismissed by a Labour government determined to win the approval of the bankers and bosses by making the working class pay for a crisis accelerated by the failed imperialist war to defeat Iran and secure the Middle East for exploitation by US imperialism.
The powerful working class has demonstrated that it will not be diverted with empty appeals for a windfall tax and is prepared to take action against a bankrupt capitalist system that offers nothing but poverty.
The time has come for the working class to force the trade unions to act by calling a general strike to bring down the Labour government and go forward to a workers government.
A workers government will not just tax the capitalists but expropriate them by nationalising the banks, energy companies and basic industries under the management and control of the working class in a socialist planned economy that will provide for the needs of the people.
