The government has announced new energy bills rebate support to help with the massive increase in energy costs.
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Chancellor Rishi Sunak has revealed new plans to help support households struggling with additional costs of increased energy bills.
While costs are going up, he says that we need to adjust to paying more for energy prices.
Costs have generally gone up, and we will need to pay more.
However, he wants to see that millions of households can pay less at first and spread costs.
The following rebates and support will help 28 million households see an increase to £350 instead of the £693 recent energy price cap.
More help has been announced as part of the Growth Plan 2022 mini budget.
Energy bills rebate
Spread cost increase over time
Domestic customers will get a discount up front of £200.
Energy suppliers will apply the discount to electricty bills of customers in October 2022.
This is not a free grant and will be repaid by customers.
This gas debt will be in small instalments of £40 per year over 5 years.
The discount will be automatically recovered from your bill from 2023 when global wholesale gas prices are expected to come down.
This enforced debt has been u-turned and also doubled to £400 in their latest update.
£150 council tax rebate
In April, everyone will get a £150 rebate if they live in a property in council tax bands A – D.
This is a one-off rebate that will be made directly from your local council, and it won’t need to be repaid.
Not sure what council tax band you’re on? It will say on your latest bill, or you can check on the gov site.
The deadline to make a claim was September 2022 but there a new deadline of until the end of November 2022.
It won’t be extended past this council tax rebate extension.
New £144 million fund
There is a new fund which helps A – D council bands who don’t pay council tax and helps people who live in areas where council tax is much higher.
This will be aimed to support vulnerable people and individuals on low incomes that do not pay Council Tax, or that pay Council Tax for properties in Bands E-H.
Local councils will manage this fund.
This support will apply throughout England, Wales and Scotland.
Is there any other help?
This support is one off to help with the initial increased costs.
However, prices are going to continue to rise.
There are new proposals to expand the eligibility of the Warm Home Discount where you get a one off £140 payment to help with your energy bills. It is planned to increase the payment to £150 from October.
You can always look to see how you can generally save money on energy bills by reducing how much you use.
If you are in energy debt or struggling, get in touch with your provider and see what support they can offer you in terms of a payment plan or hardship funds.
Citizens Advice or StepChange can also support with debts and financial hardship.
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Chris says
Hi We would rather pay our bills upfront. We do like owing money, if we can’t pay we do not use it. Is there an option to pay up front instead of using a use now pay later scheme.
The fuel cost may not go down so then your bill will be even bigger.
Brian says
Can I ask in reality how much money you actually get sponsored for by these company’s that your pushing for because I and many others think your making a very profitable salary for promoting these said companys
Naomi Willis says
Hi Brian
The government did not pay or sponsor us to share details about the support people can get.
There are display adverts on the site where we can earn revenue, like the majority of websites. We aren’t paid by the companies directly as it’s managed by our ad network, Mediavine. This is how we can continue to provide information for free and also pay our bills and overheads.
Best wishes
Naomi
Terry says
To be honest it would have better to drop the VAT from all energy bills for a couple of years. This would have benefited everyone. As people tighten their budgets the less they will spend on the high street which won’t be any good for local economy or national. Typical Tory smoke and mirror tactics
Jonathan Gunn-Smith says
Agree mate. We all suffer whether we live in a banded property A or banded property E. Sometimes bigger families live in Band E and not necessarily well off plus those is Band E and higher are already being hurt by much higher council tax bill increases than band A.
June Rutherford says
Being on pension credit I don’t pay council tax so it’s not going to help me at all, and as for the £200 it’s a loan so he can stick it where the sun don’t shine and I hope it keeps him warm.
Rosemary Haines says
Exactly! Those on the lowest incomes (which The Chancellor is purporting to help) don’t have to pay Council Tax, so as already said, it’s no help at all. He didn’t think this one through, did he?
I have done my best with my own budget to help pay for the threatened increases – lowered my grocery budget; shortened the hours of using the heating; cancelled my magazine subscriptions, Prime, Kindle unlimited, several charities (sadly) and basically cut down as much as possible. My only income is the basic Pension so it’s an easy budget to adjust.
I wonder how many MPs have had to reduce their expenses, same as me? Oooohhhh daft question!