An energy minister has told the bosses of Great Britain’s biggest energy suppliers to do more to help households get on top of their unpaid energy bills this winter, before the government spends up to £2.5bn to help write off the country’s record high debts.

Energy bosses were summoned to a roundtable meeting on Thursday to discuss the government’s plan to pay down the energy debts of about 2.4m of the hardest-hit households.

The debt relief scheme is part of a wider “circuit-breaker” strategy put forward by the chancellor in the annual budget statement last month.…