Hundreds of thousands of families are struggling to pay energy bills even before price increases that are looming on the back of the Gulf conflict, new figures show.Suppliers have announced plans to increase charges by up to 11 per cent from July after months of volatile global oil and gas prices spurred by the US-Israeli conflict with Iran.New figures Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) show that 318,735 homes – one in seven across the State – were behind with their electricity bills at the end of March.That was 32,000, or 11 per cent, more than at the end of March 2025, the regulator says in its latest report on arrears.The number of homes in difficulty with their gas bills topped one in four at 183,468. That figure was around 5 per cent higher than 12 months earlier, according to the CRU.The amount owed on the average electricity bill in arrears crept up 4 per cent to €511.09. Gas bill arrears were up 11 per cent at €229.56, the report states.Lynn Boylan, Sinn Féin MEP, branded the average €511 electricity bill arrears due as “a worrying new high”.“All that households have gotten is the axing of the energy credits and the establishment of a Government taskforce to come up with proposals. Where is the urgency?” she asked.Energy debt in March was at its second highest level since the outbreak of the Ukraine War in 2022, she added.Volatile world energy prices sparked by the Gulf crisis came at a time when European gas stocks were low following a cold winter, aggravating the problem.Oil prices rose on Thursday after a second day of US military strikes on Iran in the on-off conflict’s latest round.