Nearly one-in-four of 18-to-24-year-olds struggle to understand their energy bills.

A new report by the National Literacy Trust and Octopus Energy suggests almost 22% of consumers of that age group avoid reading their bill because of the language used.

That compares to 3% of over 65s.

The survey of 2,502 adults also estimates just 9% of the youngest energy consumers can correctly identify all six key energy bill terms, including ‘dual fuel’, ‘kWh’ and ‘tariff’.

The findings of the research show overall almost 47% of all bill payers were able to correctly identify all of these six common terms used in the energy sector.

Greg Jackson, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Octopus Energy, said: “In a world where we are used to hearing that older people can struggle with heating their homes or reading their bills, it’s worrying to see this research which shows that young people are struggling too.

“They are more likely to find energy bills hard to engage with and even avoid reading them entirely, which could mean they run up large amounts of debt early on in life.”