A “POSTCODE LOTTERY” of social tariffs is leaving households missing out on almost £2 billion worth of support to pay their essential bills, a report has found.

In research published today, Citizens Advice found identical households are receiving “completely different” levels of support depending on where they live because of a lack of consistency and effort to promote social tariffs among suppliers.

The service warned that badly designed social tariffs with “patchwork” support available in different areas were falling short in keeping people connected to essential services.