Help Available For Customers Struggling To Pay Energy Bills

26th August 2022

If customers are struggling to pay for energy bills, they should contact their energy supplier as soon as possible. Depending on their circumstances, customers may be eligible for extra help with their energy bills or services, such as debt repayment plans, payment breaks, emergency credit for prepayment metered customers, priority support and schemes like the Winter Fuel Payment or Warm Home Discount rebate.

Support available: Energy domestic consumer advice for Autumn/Winter 2022 | Ofgem See https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/energy-domestic-consumer-advice-autumnwinter-2022

Breathing Space Scheme: This is a scheme to give households time to receive debt advice and find a solution to sort out their debt problems. Breathing space will last for 60 days as long as applicants remain eligible during which time all creditors who have been included will be informed and must stop any collection or enforcement activity. Once the breathing space ends, creditors will be able to collect the debt in the usual way. Consumers can call the National Debtline on Freephone 0808 808 4000 or visit www.nationaldebtline.org

The Citizens Advice consumer service can provide advice on how customers can resolve problems with their energy provider. You can contact Citizens Advice via webchat, or by calling 0808 223 1133. For complex or urgent cases, or if a person is in a vulnerable situation, they may then be referred onto the Extra Help Unit.

Published cap levels for the charge restriction period 9A of the default tariff cap: 1 October 2022 - 31 December 2022. See https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/default-tariff-cap-level-1-october-2022-31-december-2022

Section 5 for future price cap dates: Check if the energy price cap affects you | Ofgem See https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/check-if-energy-price-cap-affects-you

The price cap protects around 24 million households on default or variable rates on credit meters. The £3,549 per year level of the cap is based on a household with typical consumption on a dual electricity and gas bill paying by direct debit and, following the recent 4 August announcement, will be updated on a quarterly basis. More information on this can be found on the "Ofgem confirms changes to the price cap methodology and frequency ahead of new rate to be announced later this month" press release. Customers who pay by standard credit (cash or cheque) pay an additional £215 based on the higher cost for energy companies to serve them. The 24 million households protected by the price cap includes around 4.5 million prepayment meter customers. These customers pay an additional £59 compared to those on direct debit, which also reflects the higher cost for energy companies to serve them. The values shown in the text above include VAT and are expressed for the current Typical Domestic Consumption Values (TDCV) of 2,900kWh of electricity, 12,000kWh of gas, and 4,200kWh of electricity for Economy 7. The price cap is a cap on a unit of gas and electricity, with standing charges taken into account. It is not a cap on customers' overall energy bills, which will still rise or fall in line with their energy consumption. From 1 October the equivalent per unit level of the price cap to the nearest pence for a typical customer paying by direct debit will be 52p per kWh for electricity customers and a standing charge of 46p per day. The equivalent per unit level for a typical gas customer is 15p per kWh with a standing charge of 28p per day.