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On the day every household was hit with sky-high charges, Bill Bullen, boss of Utilita Energy, warned the weak and vulnerable would inevitably perish. Delivering the bleakest assessment of the worst standard of living emergency in a generation, Mr Bullen said there was “no question” price hikes would lead to the deaths of the elderly.

And he warned: “Next winter it will be much, much worse and much worse for children also.”

His devastating verdict was delivered on what was dubbed April Cruel Day when every household in Britain was crippled by the sharpest jump in domestic energy bills in living memory.

And in just five days National Insurance contributions will also increase by 1.25 percentage points in a move that will see anybody earning more than £9,880 a year pay 1.25p more in the pound.

Families were stung after the price of gas and electricity soared by 54 percent overnight as the industry regulator Ofgem raised the price cap for an average home to £1,971 from £1,277.

The Consumer Price Index measure of inflation now stands at 6.2 percent – the highest since 1992.

The raid on family finances has seen the cost of gas, electricity, food, water, mobile phone, broadband, council tax and car insurance all rocket.

And energy prices are almost certain to rise again in the autumn as the war in Ukraine exacerbates a global fuel crisis.

It is expected households will have to fork out another £700 from October with utility bills set to soar to an eye-watering average of £2,700-a-year, crippling the least well off.

Age UK head Caroline Abrahams said: “What does the Government expect pensioners to do? Forgo their heating, ration their food or go into debt?

“There’s no doubt it will lead to many more turning their heating down or off altogether.”

GMB General Secretary Gary Smith said: “Yesterday’s staggering price rises are the kick in the teeth so many have been dreading.

“We are a gas-producing nation with a world-class energy supply chain. But unlike so many countries, we do not have a cap on the gas we send overseas.

“That decision has left us vulnerable to rapid increases in international energy prices.

“We urgently need a national energy strategy that progresses nuclear and hydrogen.”

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