The city is bracing itself for a financial crisis as fears spike over soaring bills.

With the average expenditure for Norwich households expected to rise by £5,305 according to Office for National Statistics figures with current inflation applied, the cost of living crisis is set to bite hard.

The Centre for Cities has also calculated the Fine City's inflation rate of 10.5pc is higher than the national average.

This is partly due to city folk spending more on petrol and groceries in what is a predominantly rural county with inferior transport links compared to places such as London.

Inflation is largely driven by rising costs of essential goods such as food, petrol and energy.

Valentine Quinio, a senior analyst for Centre for Cities, said: "We are broadly seeing a North-South divide with higher inflation rates in the North.

"But Norwich is the exception to the rule to a number of cities in the South.

"In Norwich, people are spending about 30pc on all disposable income and 20pc on petrol which is quite a high amount of overall income.

"The clearest impact on people this winter will be cutting out non-essential spending which will have a domino impact on the high street and businesses just emerging from the Covid crisis."

%image(14476689, type="article-full", alt="Valentine Quinio of Centre for Cities")

The finance expert added: "A lot of households are having to choose between heating and eating."

Figures from the Centre for Cities also show a 40pc increase in direct debit spending since 2019 but workers in Norwich are on average £76 a month poorer than in April 2021.

The cost of living crisis is expected to hit charities in the city as demand surges.

Dr Jan Sheldon, chief executive for city homeless charity St Martins said: "St Martins is very concerned about the cost of living crisis.

"We have already seen people coming on to the streets who would never have expected to find themselves sleeping rough.

"We think this is just the tip of the iceberg and sadly more people will be needing our support this winter."

To cope with the demand, the non-profit organisation has plans to open new accommodation and is making sure its donation station is prepared to provide additional clothing, water bottles and food vouchers.

The service is currently low on men’s clothing especially in smaller sizes.

But other charities are struggling in comparison with one city foodbank closing due to the struggle to attain funding at the moment.

An emergency Just Giving page has been set up as the Phoenix Centre in Mile Cross has had to close its foodbank.

Ally McClagish, events coordinator for the Phoenix Centre, said: "With the cost of energy bills going up it means people are having to use foodbanks.

"However, as a charity we are struggling to keep going and are having to work closely with charities such as Age UK to provide advice with bills."

%image(14684222, type="article-full", alt="Pictured from left to right at the Phoenix Centre are trustee Owen Willis, centre coordinator Trish Hewett and events coordinator Ally McClagish")

It comes as Ofgem has announced the energy price cap is set to increase from £1,971 to £3,549 this October.

This figure is likely to rise further in January which means monthly energy bills could be three times higher this winter than last year.

This works out at around £500 a month according to analysis by independent think tank Resolution Foundation.

Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, said: "Britain is on course for a winter catastrophe unless significant help is provided.

%image(14684223, type="article-full", alt="Resolution Foundation chief executive Torsten Bell has warned of a "cost of living catastrophe" in April.")

"These costs pose a serious threat to families’ physical and financial health.

"The benefits system has a crucial role to play this winter, but the scale of the crisis means that combining this with more radical approaches now looks all but inevitable."

Chrissie Rumsby is Labour county councillor for the Mile Cross ward which has high levels of deprivation.

%image(14476058, type="article-full", alt="Chrissie Rumsby, county councillor for Mile Cross")

She said: "I am hearing from people who are concerned about what is going to happen and quite a few will actually disconnect themselves if they do not think they will be able to get through it.

"We are going to end up with such a public crisis at the end of this and the costs are going to have an impact on physical and mental health."