The Government has announced more help for households in paying energy bills this winter, with gas and electricity prices set to go up again from October 1. The latest measures include support for people who have previously missed out on the £400 announced by Rishi Sunak, the other raft of measures announced by the Government for people on welfare and pensions or the £2,500 cap announced by Liz Truss.
It includes people in caravan parks; on ‘shared heat networks’ in blocks of flats; who live off-grid; who rely on heating oil instead of gas; and who pay ‘all-in’ to a landlord, reports The Mirror.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said new funding will help “the 1% of households who would not otherwise have received” a £400 discount off energy bills this winter.
The £400 ‘Energy Bills Support Scheme’ (EBSS), worth £66 a month in October and November then £67 in December to March, was initially offered to all domestic electricity customers in Britain who pay their own bill.
But tenants who pay their rent with ‘bills included’ would not have received the £400 EBSS discount unless their landlord chose to pass it on.
The government said today it would introduce a law to make sure landlords pass on the £400 discount “to tenants who pay all-inclusive bills”.
Likewise, park home residents were not due to receive the £400 EBSS discount directly because many pay a ‘pitch fee’. This wraps in many costs, including electricity, which are then paid by the site owner.
And people on ‘shared heat networks’ in flats were in a slightly different situation. They could generally get the £400 EBSS discount off electricity bills this winter - but not the overall £2,500 cap on average electric and gas bills announced this month.
That is because ‘shared heat networks’ count as a commercial, not a domestic supply, according to heat network firm Switch2.
Commercial supplies are covered by today’s announcement for businesses, but not by the £2,500 cap on household bills, known as the ‘Energy Price Guarantee’ (EPG).
BEIS said: “Additional funding will be made available so that £400 payments will be extended to include people such as park home residents and those tenants whose landlords pay for their energy via a commercial contract.”
BEIS did not say how these £400 payments will work in practice, but added: “The government is committed to ensuring such households receive the same support.”
Separately, people who live off-grid could not benefit from either the £400 EBSS discount, or the £2,500 EPG cap on average bills.
And people who have oil central heating - so live off the gas grid but still get electricity - could benefit from the £400 discount but not the full £2,500 cap.
Today the government said those who cannot benefit from the £2,500-a-year EPG will instead get “an additional payment of £100 to households across the UK”.
Meanwhile the government has extended both the £2,500 cap and £400 discount to Northern Ireland, after the region was initially left out of both measures.
Energy suppliers in Northern Ireland will cut bills by “up to” 17p/kWh for electricity and 4.2p/kWh for gas.
But this will only happen from November. The government said it would ensure support for households in Northern Ireland ends up being equivalent to those in Great Britain, despite the month delay.
