With more and more Brits feeling the pinch households struggling to pay bills across the UK are resorting to energy theft. The annual value of gas and electricity stolen from Great Britain’s grids is already estimated at an eye-watering £1.5 billion.

As costs continue to spiral, the energy industry has warned that “desperate” households who are unable to pay their bills are increasingly resorting to tampering with their gas and electricity meters to avoid falling deeper into debt. As reported by Sky, the average annual energy bill in the UK rose to £1,849 a year as Ofgem increased the price cap yet again. This is a 6.4% annual increase. For the majority of households paying for their gas and electricity on a direct debit, this equates to £9.25 per month.

This increase in bills has led to a sharp rise in the number of households tampering with their gas and electricity meters to avoid paying their bills.

Matt Copeland, the head of policy at National Energy Action, says strapped for cash Brits are turning to frantic ways in a bid to keep warm.

He says: “As prices continue to rise and energy debt increases, households struggling to pay their bills will turn to increasingly desperate measures to stay warm at home and keep up with their bills.”

As many as one in every 150 homes are estimated to have tampered with their energy meters, pipes or cables to secure energy, according to Britain’s official energy theft tipoff service.

This figure has risen by two thirds since the energy crisis began in 2021, around 250,000 cases of energy theft are likely to go unreported every year.

David Garner, the director of safety at the gas network company Cadent, is warning those who tamper with their pipework could could cause an "explosion".

He said: “If you don’t know what you’re doing when you tamper with your pipework, you can create a gas leak which accumulates to an explosive level.

"All it takes to ignite this is a light switch, and you face devastating consequences for the whole community. Two, maybe three years ago an explosion took place which not only impacted the house where the gas theft was taking place but also the adjoining property where, sadly, a young boy was tragically killed.”