British Gas has hiked the credit prepayment customers could use in case they run out of cash to top up their meters.

It is estimated that millions of customers on prepayment meters have to pay an extra £708 for their bills after the price cap came into force last week.

A few days ago, Charity Fuel Bank Foundation predicted that energy costs for customers with prepayment meters could peak at £428 a month by January 2023.

The UK’s biggest energy supplier has sent an email to its prepayment customers telling them they can use energy until they are £10 over their prepayment – the previous limit was £5.

It said: “If you do need to use emergency credit, you will have to repay the amount of credit used at your next top up as well as the amount you would usually purchase.”

It had been previously predicted that the new price cap would force more than five million English households into fuel stress.