SCOTS householders already owe £86m to energy suppliers, two months before bills are set to soar by more than 80%.

The Scottish energy debt bill is three times higher than it was three years ago, experts at USwitch said and is likely to grow even further during the winter.

Some 400,000 Scottish households owe an average of £215 to suppliers at a time of year when they should usually have built up credit to cope with winter bills. The average domestic debt per home in Scotland is five per cent higher than for the whole UK.

The number of homes in credit in Scotland has dropped from one million to 753,000 since April, according to the new data shared with the Herald.

And almost one million households (978,000) in Scotland have no credit balances at all, leaving them with no protection from hardship in the coming months.

It comes as respected analysts Cornwall Insight warned that the cost of gas and electricity for a typical household will rise to £4200 a year - £650 pounds more than they previously estimated.

In a new grave new outlook for households the analysis say that bills are set to soar to around £3,582 in October, from £1,971 today, before rising even further in the New Year. That is over £200 a year more than its previous forecast.

And it predicts that market regulator Ofgem will put the price cap at £4,266 for the average household in the three months from the beginning of January.

The energy consultancy said that this was around £650 more than its previous forecast.

It comes as Ofgem last week announced changes to how it will calculate the price cap on energy bills going forward.

Around 1.5m Scots households saw their energy bills soar by up to £693 a year after Ofgem hiked the price cap by the biggest increase yet in April.

From April 1, the three in four customers on default tariffs paying by direct debit saw an increase of £693 from £1,277 to £1971 while the rest who are on prepayment meters - and tend to be among the most vulnerable - have seen a rise of £708 from £1,309 to £2017.

The sharp 54% rise, which impacted half the population, was said to be driven by a record rise in global gas prices, with wholesale prices quadrupling in the last year.

“Energy debt has hit an all-time high with the worst possible timing, turning this winter’s energy price hike into a deeply precarious situation for many households,” said Justina Miltienyte, head of policy at Uswitch.

The Herald:

“This is an alarming situation, as summer is traditionally a time when households are using less power for heating, which helps bill payers to build up energy credit ahead of the winter.”

The survey also found that nearly one in five people (18%) in the UK said they are worried about their supplier forcing them to take a prepayment meter if they fall behind on bills, although just over two in three said they did not know their supplier could do this.

“If you are behind on your bill payments, or your energy account is going into debt, speak to your provider as soon as possible,” Ms Miltienyte said.

The Scottish Greens' energy spokesman Mark Ruskell said the UK government must act to keep bills down warning that the skyrocketing energy bills will drive families into destitution.

He said: “Inflation is running at a level not seen in decades, impacting the cost of food, fuel and energy.

“These price rises are simply unaffordable and will drive families across the country into destitution.

“It also seems certain that without urgent support from the UK Government we’ll see a significant rise in winter deaths as people who simply can’t afford to turn on their heating freeze to death.

“This cannot be allowed to happen in the UK in the 21st century."

The consumer organisation Which? said that initial support announced by the government will no longer conver the predicted hikes.

Rocio Concha, the group's director of policy and advocacy said: "It is vital that government and businesses work together to ensure that targeted support continues to reach the ever-growing number of consumers struggling to make ends meet.

“The government and regulators must also ensure people can rely on robust consumer protections that will prevent them from being exploited by businesses. Ofgem must continue to stop poor performance – such as firms miscalculating direct debit payments – and quickly step in to impose penalties on any suppliers that fail to make the necessary improvements.”

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Citizens Advice Scotland social justice spokesm Stephanie Millar said the soaring energy prices were not sustainable for household budgets at breaking point due to the cost of living crisis.

"Many are going to be forced between heating their homes or feeding themselves this winter," she said.

“People will be incredibly anxious about rising prices, and there is a risk that a rising tide of poverty and debt will pull millions across the UK under.

“The most important thing people can do is seek advice."

The dire forecast comes a day after Scotland’s First Minister called for an urgent meeting between the heads of the devolved administrations to address the cost-of-living crisis.

In a letter sent on Monday, Nicola Sturgeon urged the Prime Minister to move a proposed meeting between the heads of the UK’s Governments from September to this week.

The Government has already promised £400 to every household, and extra help for the more vulnerable.

Cornwall Insight said its startling new forecast includes increased wholesale prices and the decision by Ofgem to review the price cap four times a year instead of just twice.

Dr Craig Lowrey, principal consultant at Cornwall Insight said: “While our price cap forecasts have been steadily rising since the summer 2022 cap was set in April, an increase of over £650 in the January predictions comes as a fresh shock.

“The cost-of-living crisis was already top of the news agenda as more and more people face fuel poverty – this will only compound the concerns.

“Many may consider the changes made by Ofgem to the hedging formula, which have contributed to the predicted increase in bills, to be unwise at a time when so many people are already struggling.”

However, he also defended Ofgem’s decision, which will hopefully lead to lower bills in the second half of next year.

This will happen because Ofgem is making it easier for energy suppliers to recover their costs. By doing this, fewer suppliers will fail – and the cost of those failures will not need to be passed on to customers.

“With many energy suppliers under financial pressure, and some currently making a loss, maintaining the current timeframe for suppliers to recover their hedging costs could risk a repeat of the sizeable exodus seen in 2021,” Mr Lowrey said.

The Herald:

“Given that the costs of supplier failure are ultimately met by consumers through their energy bills, a change which means that this is less likely is welcome, even if the timing of it may well not be.”

Part of the increase in the forecast is also due to rising wholesale energy prices, Cornwall Insight said.

The price cap forecasts from Cornwall showed bills reaching £4,427 in April, before finally dropping slightly to £3,810 from July and £3,781 from October next year.

Dr Lowrey said that the Government must take action to step in and protect households from the runaway costs.

The Government was warned by business leaders that it must have “all hands to the pump” to address the crisis ahead of the autumn.

Last week, the Bank of England announced projections that could see inflation rise above 13% in October.

And Tony Danker, director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), joined former prime minister Gordon Brown’s call for swift intervention to address rising energy costs.

But Downing Street said Mr Johnson had no plans to introduce major new fiscal measures before the end of his premiership.

And Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss yesterday refused to commit to extra support for families struggling with the cost of living after the new bills rise warning.

Rival leadership challenger former chancellor Rishi Sunak has said he has “no doubt” extra support will be needed to get people through the winter, and he is “confident” he can find the money needed to ease the burden from Government efficiency savings.

But Ms Truss again insisted her priority was driving through tax cuts to kick-start the economy.

Speaking during a campaign visit to Huddersfield, the Foreign Secretary said that if she became prime minister she would “see what the situation is like” in the autumn.