The government has been urged to introduce new measures to help customers struggling with their energy bills.

Speaking to the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Greg Jackson, Octopus Founder and Chief Executive Officer said the current price hikes could see the nation’s energy bills rise from £15 billion in a normal year to £75 billion this year.

Mr Jackson said: “The big thing here is that we need more help for customers from the government. The reality is that customers are being asked to pay the price of gas, which has been weaponised by Putin. And they should not be expected to do that alone.

“Let’s put it into perspective, the UK’s energy bill is going from maybe £15 billion in a normal year to £75 billion this year. That’s the equivalent to nine pence or more on the basic rate of income tax.

“No government would announce that and in the same way, no government should let this go to customers. There’s couple of things we can do – you could double the existing package.”

His comments come as Ofgem is expected to announce the level of the new price cap this Friday with analysts predicting that this could jump from £1,971 to £3,554 in October.

A few days ago, Greg Jackson said the way the cost of renewable electricity was determined in the UK’s energy market was “bonkers”,

In the interview with the BBC Radio 4, he added: “Many of the energy companies now favour a tariff deficit fund. Essentially you freeze the price cap roughly where it is when prices are high and fund that by paying it back when prices are coming down.

“That would see prices staying where they are now, which is still two-thirds above where they were a year ago and they would then drift back down to maybe £1,000 a year over the next decade.”