One in five of the UK's poorest households could be out of pocket to the tune of £132 by not cashing in their energy vouchers before they expired.
All energy customers are getting £400 worth of help with their bills as part of the Government's Energy Bill Support Scheme (EBSS). The money is paid in six instalments with the last one due this month. Those who pay by direct debit, on receipt of bill, or have a smart prepayment meter should be receiving the money automatically, but those with traditional prepayment meters - the type which have a key of card that needs to be topped up at a shop or Post Office - get their rebate in the form of monthly vouchers, which then need to be redeemed in the same way. And after the deadline for cashing the November deadline passed early last month, payment terminal company Paypoint reported that only 81% of vouchers had been cashed.
The vouchers were sent with a 90-day expiry date, so the tranche sent in November ran out on Sunday, February 5, with December's due to expire on March 8. The Post Office had previously urged households to cash their October £66 vouchers, as their figures showed £17m was still outstanding just days before the deadline in January. Families who have missed both deadlines for the £66 energy vouchers have potentially lost £132 if they don't act.
