More than half of people don't trust energy suppliers amid widespread confusion and anxiety about bills, a survey has found.

Some 51% of 10,000 adults polled they did not trust any firm, rising to 57% of those living in fuel poverty or with a disability.. More than a third (37%) are concerned their energy bills are not accurate, and 41% worried that they pay for more energy than they consume. A tenth (10%) did not know how much they were paying for energy and more than third (36%) said they did not understand their energy bill.

The survey carried out for the UK Government revealed that more than two-fifths (43%) of consumers do not believe they have the information they need to choose the right energy tariff, while almost as many (39%) were not confident they had enough information to select the right supplier.

Almost half (44%) of those polled said they were interested in having a smart meter installed in their homes. SMCDB chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said: "Our research shows that more than half of the population feel they cannot trust any energy supplier.

"In an era when we are able to compare, record and track our household spending more easily than ever before, two in five of us have no idea whether we're paying too much for our energy."