Now it costs £10 a day to heat homes as cold snap meets fuel crisis

HEATING bills are set to hit the grim landmark of £10 a day this weekend as a cold snap coincides with rocketing energy charges.

Families forced to turn their radiators back on will pay an average of £3.50 more each day to run a gas boiler in bitter weather – on top of the £6.50 it cost before Friday’s record 54 per cent price cap rise. The cold conditions, which are expected to continue into next week, mean households will be paying a combined £280million daily to keep warm. Paul Walmsley, energy manager at the charity Christians Against Poverty, said: ‘Reaching £10 a day just to be warm is shocking and unaffordable for many. It’s not about choosing between heating and eating – it’s simply survival for some.

‘Bill hikes are not just affecting low-earners. Middle-earners are also struggling.’

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure to do more to ease the cost of living after energy bills went up from April 1. This has combined with an average 2.9 per cent increase in council tax and the controversial rise of 1.25 percentage points to National Insurance contributions. Broadband and mobile phone bills are also set to go up with inflation, which is at a 30-year high.

Many people turned their heating off when temperatures rocketed to 20C last weekend in a mini spring heatwave. But just as the bills went up, the cold air blew in, with today’s temperatures expected to fall. Tonight it could plummet to -5C in some parts of the UK.

Since costs went up on Friday, annual energy bills are expected to average £1,971. Heating trends show that household energy bills for two or three people in a three-bedroom house cost £53 in a cold week, or £8 per day.

But they are higher on cold weekends as people have their boilers on during the day, meaning average daily energy costs will hit £10 this weekend and over the Easter school holidays.

Adam Scorer, chief executive of the charity National Energy Action, said it was ‘unprecedented’, adding: ‘For the 6.5million households priced out of adequate heating, debt will spiral and physical and mental health will suffer.’