Thousands of the UK's poorest households will be getting a £250 boost to help pay their energy bills.
British Gas is to give the free energy credit to prepayment customers who are struggling to top up their meters as prices rise and the weather gets colder. British Gas has said the money - which is in addition to any cost of living payments or energy bill support from the Government - will be paid automatically to those who it identifies are eligible for it, so you don't need to apply for help.
The meter credit is part of a new £10million support package announced by the energy giant to help prepayment customers, who are often the most vulnerable families. Prepay - or Pay As You Go - meters are often installed when a customer builds up debt on their account that they can't pay back, but prepayment customers face higher rates than direct debit customers and have no option other than 'self-disconnect' if they run out of money to top up the meter.
Read more: Energy crisis: Can your energy company move you to a prepay meter to clear debt?
Earlier this month, Citizens Advice called for a ban on prepayment meters being fitted against customers' wishes after research from Citizens Advice showed 3.2 million people ran out of credit last year because they couldn’t afford to top up their meter.
The charity estimates one household ran out of credit on their prepayment meter every 10 seconds last year, an estimated 3.2 million people overwhelmed by rising energy bills, food prices and inflation in the cost of living crisis. It has seen a 229% increase in the past year in the number of people coming for help who can't afford to top up and in 2022, saw more people who couldn't top up their prepayment meter than it did in the whole of the last 10 years combined.
Those who pay using this type of meter have no power unless they pay for it first, so if they have no credit left and are unable to afford to top up, they are unable to cook or heat their homes. This is known as self-disconnection, and Citizens Advice says it’s not just a one-off for most affected families, as more than two million people are being disconnected at least once a month.
Newcastle Citizens Advice has previously warned of its fears that people could die in their cold homes as vulnerable families who have to pay for their energy in advance face winter.
"The energy price guarantee is £2,500 for an average home but the message we are getting is that this is massively unaffordable for some people, who are taking desperate - and dangerous - risks to keep warm," said a spokesperson from the CAB. "In winter 20-21, it is estimated that 6,000 people in England died as direct result of their homes being too cold, and energy costs then were around half of what they are now. At Citizens Advice Newcastle, we have seen more people who can't afford to heart their homes so far this year than the previous five years combined. It's shocking and desperate and we are worried that people are going to pass away simply because their homes are too cold. We are seeing a massive increase in people reducing the amount of money they are using to top up their meter or not topping it up at all, in other words self-disconnecting. This is very worrying and dangerous."
As part of its extra support, British Gas says it will ban forced remote switches to prepay meters this winter, unless a customer asks for one. The UK’s biggest energy provider will also run extra vulnerability checks and will install smart prepay meters so customers having issues can be identified quickly.
Chris O’Shea, chief executive of Centrica, parent company of British Gas, told The Mirror: “We know that some prepayment customers are self-disconnecting and not coming forward for help, so we have reviewed our policies to do more to target support at this group. As a responsible business we are doing all we can to support our customers during this crisis – our work with the British Gas Energy Trust provides grants and money advice services. As well as helping our customers with much needed cash grants, I’m really proud of how our teams are giving expert advice and support at this busy time to help guide people through this crisis. Our call centres are helping around a million energy customers each month with their bills and our engineers are in homes every day advising customers on how to be more energy efficient and make savings.”
In addition to the £250 top-up, British Gas also has a hardship scheme for customers, which can pay up to £1,500 towards fuel debt of £250 or more, as long as you have not has a British Gas grant in the previous year and have consulted a debt charity such as Stepchange.
Even if you're not a British Gas customer, there is an additional grant, from the British Gas Energy Trust, which will again will pay up to £1,500 to households in In fuel debt of £250 or more and with no savings over £1,000. You can't apply if you have had a British Gas grant in the past two years. More details are here.
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