A rise in energy bills is the equivalent of adding 9p to the income tax rate, the supplier warns

But Greg Jackson, chief executive of Octopus Energy, said British customers were being asked “to pay the price for the gas that Putin is weaponising”.

Speaking on the Today show this morning, Mr Jackson said: “You cannot expect energy buyers or retailers to bear the cost of war.”

Households will receive a one-off living expenses payment of £400 in the form of a discount on energy bills.

However, this payment was announced by Rishi Sunak in May, when he was still chancellor, and the price cap was predicted to rise to just £2,800, down £800 from recent predictions.

Mr Jackson suggested the Government “could double the existing support package” from £400 to £800 based on current estimates.

He was joined on the show by the bosses of two other providers: Bill Bullen and Dale Vince from Utilito and Ecotricity, respectively.

“We need more government help for customers,” Mr Jackson said.

“To put it in perspective: UK energy bills will go from £15bn in a normal year to £75bn this year – the equivalent of 9p more on basic rate income tax.

“No government would publish it, and by the same token, no government should leave it up to the parties.”

He suggested that energy companies favor a “tariff deficit fund” program that would include a price ceiling freeze ‘about where it’s at’, funding the scheme when prices are high and then paying it back when prices are low.

Mr Vince also called on the Government to intervene, adding: “We must not expect parties to pay the cost of this failure and the war in Ukraine.

“We need £40bn to get us through this winter. That’s 10 per cent of what was spent during the pandemic and it’s the only thing that’s really going to solve this problem.”

Mr Vince also said the UK needed to “break the link” between gas and electricity prices.

“We’ve let global commodity markets set the price we pay for gas from our own North Sea, and now we’re paying up to 10 times more for it,” he said.

For a taxpayer on a salary of £45,000, the projected increase in energy bills would actually be roughly comparable to a hypothetical increase in the basic rate of income tax to 29% or 9p.

But Laura Suter of investment services AJ Bell said the increase would be felt more strongly by households on lower incomes.

“For someone on an average UK salary of around £30,000, this is equivalent to an increase in the basic rate of income tax to 36 per cent, while for someone on a higher salary of £50,000 it means a rise to around 28 per cent,” she said.

Ms Suter said the increase in energy bills came alongside “a real increase in tax”.

She added: “The effect of freezing income tax brackets at a time when inflation is skyrocketing is a stealth tax grab that will mean people pay significantly more tax.

“On top of that, we all pay more in national insurancethanks to the new health and social care levy.’