Charities have warned that some of the most vulnerable households could miss out on £400 to help with rising energy bills this autumn, after details of how every home in Britain will be supported were revealed.
The money, which is part of the already announced energy bill support scheme, will be paid in six monthly installments of £66 or £67 to around 29 million households.
Charities and campaigners raised immediate concerns that more than 2 million prepaid meter customers could struggle to access support.
Those who pay by direct debit will receive an automatic deduction from their bills, while those with ‘smart’ prepaid meters will see an automatic monthly top-up added to their account.
However, customers with older ‘non-smart’ pre-paid meters will not receive the support automatically, but instead will receive a voucher off their energy bill each month via text, email or post. Customers will then need to redeem them in person at their usual top-up point, such as kiosks or post offices.
Among those using pre-paid meters are some of the country’s poorest and most vulnerable households who are finding it harder to cope with the rising cost of energy and other bills.
Graph showing the expected increase in the energy limit
Maureen Fildes, from fuel poverty charity National Energy Action, said she feared some people using pre-paid meters might struggle to get the vouchers.
“There is a lot of fear about how people will survive the winter,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “I don’t think it will be enough to help people cope with the cost of living this winter.
“A lot of people with prepaid meters don’t have a lot of interaction with the energy supplier; they only recharge when they need it. If it’s a paper voucher, we’d like to make sure people don’t ignore their supplier’s post. It will not be another bill; it will be a certain level of support.”
He urged people to ensure their supplier contact details are up to date and not to ignore any postings from their supplier.
More than 4 million households use prepaid meters in the UK, according to the energy regulator, Ofgem. Less than half of these meters – 1.9 m – are smart devices that will allow this payment to be made quickly and easily.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the business and energy secretary, said: “People across the country are understandably concerned about the global rise in energy costs and the pressure this is putting on daily bills.
“While no government can control global gas prices, we have a responsibility to act where we can, and this significant £400 discount on energy bills that we are offering will go some way to helping millions of families over the coming months colder.”
It comes days after households were warned that average annual energy bills could hit £3,850 from January, triple the level at the start of this year.
Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi said the discount was “part of our £37bn of help for households, including 8m of the most vulnerable households receiving £1,200 of direct support to help with the cost of life”.
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The announcement comes after consumer champion Martin Lewis said the Prime Minister and Tory leadership candidates Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak needed to agree a package to help consumers.
He said Boris Johnson’s “zombie government” was failing to deal with the crisis caused by rising energy bills and warned decisions on support could not be delayed until Johnson’s successor was in office.
Lewis, the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, said households would start getting notice of rising bills before the Tory leadership contest concludes, with the energy price cap rising to £3,500 or more in October