According to a new report by the National Audit Office (NAO), millions of people are missing out on support for essential bills, including water, energy and broadband, as debt to water and energy companies climbs over £7 billion.

The report examined how Ofcom, Ofwat and Ofgem support consumers in vulnerable circumstances and whether people can access the help they need from providers of essential services.

The NAO says that debt to water and energy companies had reached more than £7 billion in March 2025 - £2.9 billion and £4.3 billion respectively - while customers are missing out on support to help them manage debt, such as repayment plans and social tariffs.

The report says there is a risk that water debt levels will rise following significant water bill increases from April 2025. Ofwat only began monitoring the amount owed by customers to water companies in 2023-24. In March 2025 just over 4 million household accounts were in debt on their water bills. According to the NAO, Ofwat has not commissioned research to understand the factors that contribute to customer debt in the water sector. However, the report says Ofwat expects significant bill increases from April 2025 to have an impact on the level of debt for 2025-26.

The watchdog also found there has been a marked increase in household energy debt, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with energy debt more than double what it was in 2021, rising by 118%.

Since the NAO’s last report on this topic in 2019, regulators have strengthened protections, introducing new rules on how companies treat customers and taking enforcement action – for example changing company licences to improve customer service and issuing multi-million-pound fines to providers where service and performance fall short of expectations.

However, the new report says NAO finds the regulators must now make changes to keep pace with consumer needs. The NAO says Ofgem, Ofwat and Ofcom must strengthen support for consumers in vulnerable circumstances, increase awareness of support and tackle the drivers of rising debt.

Consumers still struggle to contact their providers and are not always aware of support available to help manage their bills – such as social tariffs and repayment plans. The NAO found only a third of eligible broadband customers and 39% of water customers who are struggling to pay their bills are aware of social tariffs, meaning people on low incomes and in vulnerable circumstances could be missing out on support to help manage debt. Energy customers on repayment plans owe around £1,000 less than those without one in place.

While both Ofwat and Ofgem have overseen an uptake in registration for company priority services registers (PSR), consumer awareness remains low. The PSR does not extend to the broadband sector, which has separate requirements. Ofcom does not routinely monitor take up or awareness of support.

The NAO found regulators are not aligning their performance measurements with actual consumer experiences and outcomes.

The NAO is making a number of recommendations to the utilities regulators, including:

• Improve access to support – to make it easier for people to contact providers through a range of accessible channels that meet the diversity of consumer needs.
• Increase awareness of available help – such as social tariffs, repayment plans and other support schemes, so eligible consumers are clearly signposted and not missing out.
• Tackle industry drivers of rising debt – including addressing industry practices such as inaccurate billing, delays when people move home and barriers that prevent consumers from switching tariffs. The NAO found that industry practices account for an estimated 35% of customer energy debt.
• Strengthen support for consumers in vulnerable circumstances – promoting services that are designed around need, improving how consumers are identified and supported, and making better use of data and data-sharing across sectors

Commenting on the report findings, Gareth Davies, head of the NAO said:

“Regulators have made progress to support consumers, but they’re not keeping up with the pressure now facing millions of households.

“With debt rising sharply, it's more important than ever to make regulation work so that people know what support is available and can contact essential providers when they need to.”

The scope of the report does not extend to the following:

• pricing or related methodology;
• service quality (for example, drinking water quality, storm overflows, broadband speeds); investment in, and the maintenance and resilience of, physical networks;
• environmental change and impact on the supply of services;
• online safety for internet users;
• the financial resilience of companies in each sector

The NAO is flagging up that the report is published at a time of change in water and energy regulation.

Referring to the government’s announcement of plans to abolish Ofwat and create a new single regulator for water by 2030, the NAO says:

“We would expect the recommendations we make to be carried forward in the new regulatory regime.”

Click here to download the full report