This Morning: Martin Lewis helps caller with smart meter

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As millions of people across the country feel the impact of an unprecedented £700-a-year rise in energy costs — at the same time as the effects of a wider host of bill hikes — a 64-year-old man from Ipswich, Suffolk recalls how panic took hold of him when he found his daily electricity bill was a shocking £42,241.44.

Peter Chambers said: “I was thinking about dialling 999 because I had a pain in my chest – I nearly had a heart attack!

“I looked at that and thought ‘how am I going to prove I don’t use that much?’

“They’re going to think I’ve got a cannabis farm in my loft!”

Mr Chambers, a father of two, checks his meter every day. His monthly bill is around £30 and, “used to seeing between 30p and 50p tops”, he knew what he saw must have been a mistake.

He could not have used that much electricity in his one-bedroom flat by 10.30am, he told WalesOnline, so immediately called supplier EDF Energy to report the error.

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He said: “They go ‘no your readings are fine this end, you must have faulty display’.

“For my peace of mind, they did a fresh bill up to that day so I could see there was an error on the display.”

As he continues to wait for a replacement device five months later, he said: “I saw a news bulletin about some lady with British Gas who got an incorrect reading; it’s the same meter, and they’re all useless!”

Mr Chambers, to prevent further scares, currently keeps his meter turned off.

While his unbelievably high bill was due to a mistake, the grandfather of four’s shock sadly echoes the worries of a myriad of people in the UK.

The 54 percent rise in the energy price cap means a household using a typical amount of gas and electricity is now paying £1,971 per year.

Council tax, water bills and car tax also went up for some on April 1 – all while food prices squeeze consumers, too.

The £693 a year rise in a typical energy bill affects 18 million households, with 4.5 million customers on prepayment meters facing an even bigger increase of £708 a year.

The Government has offered a £150 Council Tax rebate to households in Band D or below, as well as a £200 repayable loan to all billpayers in October.

However, as inflation came in at an annual 7 percent last month and outstripped the 6.2 percent increase in the consumer price index recorded in February, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ helping hand is set to prove insufficient in the longer run – especially so when looking at the global impact od Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The war in Eastern Europe means inflation — which saw its highest hike in 30 years — is likely to peak further and take longer to moderate.

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Greg Jackson, founder and chief executive of Octopus, which has more than two million direct customers, warned the gas crisis is set to deepen by the war, with household energy bills likely to rise even higher in autumn.

Speaking on Sky News, he said: “The price keeps going up because we had a global energy crisis, exacerbated by the terrible war in Ukraine, and in the short term, the UK is stuck with these energy prices.

“Wholesale markets are incredibly volatile and we can’t predict where they’re going to go, but if they stay where they are we will see prices go up again in winter.

“I really hope that over the summer the Government watches the situation and is ready to step in with more support for customers if that stays the case.”

Adding to increased taxes and food prices are record-high high rents, with property website Rightmove saying the average rent had risen by 14 percent in a year in London and by more than 19 percent in hotspots such as Manchester.

Outside London, the average rent is 10.8 percent higher than a year ago as tenants are faced with “the most competitive rental market ever recorded”.

This is the first time the average annual growth outside the capital has exceeded 10 percent, rising average rent to a record £1,088 a month — up from £982 a year ago — and piling further pressure on already-stretched household budgets.

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