New Government schemes to support people that haven't received energy payments
Wiltshire Council is supporting the local administration of national Government schemes that aim to help people who haven't yet received any automatic financial assistance from energy support schemes.
Wiltshire Council is supporting the local administration of national Government schemes that aim to help people who haven't yet received any automatic financial assistance from energy support schemes.
Most households get a £400 discount on their energy bills. However, in some cases, people do not get the discount automatically; for example, if they pay for energy through a landlord, housing manager or site owner, or live in a park home, houseboat or off the electricity grid. The Government's Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS AF) Alternative Funding is now in place to help these people.
The EBSS AF is providing support of £400 for energy bills for households in England, Scotland, and Wales without a direct relationship to a domestic electricity supplier.
The scheme is now open to all eligible households until 31 May 2023.
Subject to applications meeting the eligibility criteria, people who will be able to receive support under EBSS AF include:
- care home residents and others in care facilities (wholly or partly self-funded)
- park home residents, those living in houseboats/residential mooring and in caravans that can provide proof of address
- social and private tenants who pay for energy through a landlord on a commercial supply
- homes on a heat network/private wire
- off-grid homes
- farmhouses used for wholly domestic purposes
Anyone eligible for EBSS AF will need to fill out a short online form via the www.gov.uk (opens new window) website. The form can be found by searching "Apply for energy bill support if you do not get it automatically" into the search bar on www.gov.uk (opens new window) or an internet search engine. Applications are made directly to the Government, not to or via Wiltshire Council. For those who do not have online access, they can apply via a contact centre on 08081 753287 where a representative will guide them through the application process.
Once they have applied, the application will be processed and verified. After this, if the application is successful, details will be shared with Wiltshire Council, who will deliver the one-off, non-repayable support. More than £3m has been issued to Wiltshire Council to distribute locally.
The payment will be made directly into the bank account in a single payment. Further information can be found on www.gov.uk (opens new window).
The Government has also announced a 'sister' scheme called Alternative Fuels Payment (AFP) for people that use alternative fuels for heating.
People may be eligible for a £200 Alternative Fuels Payment (AFP) if both the following are true:
- their household is not connected to the mains gas grid
- they use alternative fuels as their main form of heating
This one-off payment would be on top of the £400 from their electricity supplier.
People are eligible for this payment if the main way they heat their home uses:
- tank or bottled gas
- liquid petroleum gas (LPG)
- oil
- wood
- solid fuel
Most homes that are eligible for this payment will get it automatically as a credit on their electricity bills, but they may not get the payment automatically if their home is either:
- in an area which is mainly connected to the gas grid
- not connected to either the gas or the electricity grid
If people do not receive this payment automatically, they have to apply for this payment through the same method as the AFP Alternative Fund, for example, because they do not have a contract with an electricity supplier. Wiltshire Council will help process the payments made through the Government's portal, which is the same one used for EBSS AF. Wiltshire Council has been given more than £700k to distribute locally as part of this scheme.
Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of Wiltshire Council, said: "These schemes are in place to support people who haven't yet been eligible for any of the various energy support schemes that the Government has introduced.
"We only received guidance about the new schemes very recently, so we ask for people's patience while we verify any applications that come our way as we look to put the resources in place to support this significant and important work.
"However, we know too well that there will be people who really need this payment as quickly as possible, so we'll do what we can to distribute it as fast as we can.
"Supporting people through this cost-of-living crisis continues to be a top priority for us and we have a range of schemes and support in place including our library warm spaces, interactive community directory, area board coordinated projects, our Wiltshire Wellbeing Hub and targeted support for those hard to reach and vulnerable people. We'll do what we can to steer people through to the other side of this really challenging time."
In addition to these schemes, Wiltshire Council has provided the following support to residents through the ongoing cost-of-living crisis:
- Improved the efficiency of the 100 least energy efficient council houses through the Green Homes Grant.
- Created a community directory identifying warm spaces and community food providers with 165 locations registered.
- Through its warm spaces project, given out more than 1,000 warm packs from its libraries, along with referring 80 vulnerable residents to our warm and safe support network.
- The Warm and Safe advice service, supported by Wiltshire Council, Swindon Borough Council and the Centre for Sustainable Energy has provided support to more than 1,000 residents, including more than 140 heating and insulation referrals and giving out over £56,000 in grants.
- Provided outreach support helping the boater and traveller communities with fuel and food vouchers, working alongside Julian House.
- Helped distribute the hundreds of millions in energy support that Wiltshire residents have received from central Government.
- Administered the targeted Household Support Grant Scheme using almost £3m to support residents who need the most help including extra funding for families in the school holidays and support for vulnerable older people.
- Supported council housing tenants to access more than £600,000 in benefits and grants they were entitled to and had not claimed.
The council has a range of support, advice and guidance on its dedicated cost-of-living pages at Supporting you through the rising cost of living.