What help is available if I'm struggling with energy bills?

If you're behind on your bills or think you will be, contact your supplier before the debt builds up. Under Ofgem rules, suppliers must treat customers in payment difficulty fairly and take their ability to pay into account.

That means your supplier should discuss options with you rather than simply demanding the full amount. Depending on your situation, support can include:

• An affordable payment plan to repay what you owe over time, based on what you can realistically pay
• A review of your payments, or a pause in payments while you get advice
• Checking your meter readings so your bill isn't based on an estimate that's too high
• Information on any hardship funds or grants the supplier runs or supports

The Priority Services Register (PSR) is a free service run by energy suppliers and network operators for people who need extra support. You may be eligible if, for example, you're of pension age, disabled, have a long-term health condition, have young children, or are going through a difficult time.

Being on the register can give you advance warning of planned power cuts, priority help in an emergency, bills in accessible formats, and a password scheme so you can check that anyone calling at your home is genuine. Ask your supplier to add you — it also passes your details to your network operator.

The Warm Home Discount is a government scheme that gives eligible households a one-off discount on their electricity bill, usually over winter. Eligibility is generally linked to receiving certain means-tested benefits, and the rules have changed over time, so check the current criteria on GOV.UK. In many cases the discount is applied automatically.

Other help may also be available depending on your circumstances and where you live, including:

• Benefits for people of State Pension age and payments during very cold weather, which have their own rules in each nation
• Hardship grants from charitable trusts, some funded by energy suppliers
• Local support schemes run by your council
• Government-backed schemes for insulation and heating upgrades, which change from time to time

If you're running out of credit, contact your supplier straight away. Prepayment customers can usually access emergency credit, and many suppliers offer "friendly credit" so your supply isn't cut off at times when it would be hard to top up, such as overnight or at weekends.

Suppliers may also offer extra credit in some situations. Ofgem has tightened the rules on installing prepayment meters for customers in debt without their agreement, and suppliers aren't allowed to do so in certain vulnerable households. If you think a meter was fitted wrongly, raise it with your supplier.

Citizens Advice can help you understand your options, check your bills, deal with your supplier and see whether you're entitled to benefits you're not claiming. Free debt charities can also help if you have other debts as well as energy arrears.

If you're unhappy with how your supplier has treated you, complain to the supplier first. If it isn't resolved within eight weeks, or you get a final response you're not happy with, you can take your complaint to the Energy Ombudsman, which is free to use.