A survey of more than 100 financial counsellors revealed hardship programs run by energy retailers to help vulnerable and low-income people pay off their accounts are plagued with problems, despite the number of Victorians asking for help being on the rise.

The Rank the Energy Retailer report, released on Tuesday by the Financial and Consumer Rights Council, focused on the state's three biggest retailers – Origin, AGL and Energy Australia – but also rated smaller companies' hardship policies.

Of the 13 retailers ranked, Origin received the best score of 5.5 out of 10.

The number of Victorians accessing hardship programs rose by 29 per cent last year to 24,000 customers. During the same period more than 40,000 residential gas and electricity accounts were disconnected.

A concerning finding was the lack of support given to customers before an account was disconnected. Almost one-third of those surveyed said Energy Australia never warned customers before cutting off a service, compared with 22 per cent for AGL and 18 per cent for Origin.

Respondents asked about retailers' attitude towards customers facing financial hardship gave Energy Australia the lowest score, with 70 per cent rating it as "poor" or "very poor". More than 40 per cent blasted AGL and Energy Australia over debt collection tactics.

The three major suppliers all rated poorly for providing information about internal dispute resolution processes and referrals to the Energy and Water Ombudsman.

The Financial and Consumer Rights Council has called on the industry to prioritise early intervention and promote access to hardship programs. "The current practices and processes are failing vulnerable consumers," executive officer Peter Gartlan said.

"People in debt want to pay their bills, the problem is they can't. The attitude of these companies and hardship teams needs to dramatically improve. Left unabated as it has been this juggernaut is going to get far worse."

Joanna Macdougall, 53, said she has been in a four-year battle over an electricity account that was transferred when she moved house, but the bills were still sent to the old address.

"I never got a bill in three years and then I got a text saying you owe us $10,800 and your power will be cut off. That was the first I knew about it. Because I had been on a payment plan, the money was taken out of my account," she said.

Ms Macdougall recently moved to Carnegie, but said she was told by her supplier that the old electricity account that she has been paying off could not be merged with the account at the new house.

"So now I'm being harassed by debt collectors and lawyers all over again because they won't marry up the accounts," Ms Macdougall said. "This is happening even though I'm paying $100 a fortnight."

The chief executive of the Energy Retailers Association of Australia, Cameron O'Reilly, said all energy retailers had hardship programs available.

"Your energy retailer is there to help when you have payment difficulties," he said. "If customers think they can't pay their energy bill, we encourage them to talk to their retailer as early as possible to see what options are available."

A spokeswoman for the Essential Services Commission said it last audited retailers' hardship policies three years ago, with the next audit planned this financial year.