West Suffolk Citizens Advice fears people struggling with energy bills are missing out on financial support

A charity which has helped people gain more than £1.5 million in income fears people struggling with their energy bills could be missing out on vital support.

West Suffolk Citizens Advice, which has also helped clients save about £400,000 since April 2022 through debt management, is urging households to take up the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBBS) and the £200 Alternative Fuels Payment (AFP).

The EBBS gave every household £400 off their electricity bill starting from October 2022, which came in six installments, with £66 in October and November and £67 in December, January, February and March.

Administered by energy suppliers, most households in England, Scotland and Wales received the discount on their energy bills automatically. In some cases though, people did not get the discount automatically, for example if you pay for energy through a landlord, housing manager or site owner, or you live in a park home, houseboat or off the electricity grid.

Also, the AFP is a one-off £200 grant provided by the government if you heat your home using alternative fuel, such as biomass or heating oil to help with your energy bills.

Lorraine Payne, energy adviser at West Suffolk Citizens Advice, outlined a key issue that people face when trying to claim their payments.

She said: “People are having problems getting through to energy companies, that first point of contact with them isn’t very satisfactory as not much seems to happen as a result of that which is a great shame.

“It’s really annoying that every energy company seems to do it a different way so it would just be nice if they could all get their heads together too make things simpler.

“But we try to put as much as we can on the public website because most people are capable and just need to be pointed in the right direction. We just want to make sure people are getting all the help they’re entitled to, that’s it really.

Ms Payne’s advice when claiming a grant is firstly to call the energy company regarding the bill, but if after 10 days of waiting for a response you haven’t heard anything, you should then open a complaint.

According to the energy adviser, this is because on the complaints line you tend to get through to someone more experienced and with more discretion meaning often better progress can be made.

Also, if it doesn’t get resolved, opening a complaint begins an eight week clock, which is the time given to the energy company to resolve the issue before it then escalates to the energy ombudsman service – an independent body that looks at both sides of a complaint and comes to a resolution. It is free for customers but energy companies are charged a fee for very time something is looked into.

Ms Payne said: “ It’s so important that people are aware of the grants. The majority of people have used the schemes and they appreciate it couldn’t come at a better time.

“Occasionally, we do have to check if a client has received all their payments. I help a lot of elderly people and people can say it's quick and simple, but not everyone uses email or a computer.

“A lot of elderly people have now made that step though and had a go or maybe they’ve had a grandchild that can help, but most are self taught and can struggle sometimes.”

From the beginning of April, 2022 to the end of January, 2023, West Suffolk Citizens Advice helped over 4,000 clients and handled over 22,000 issues.

From this, they saved £419,618 in the time period through debt management and also gained £1,582,918 of income for clients from benefit applications, charitable support, food parcels and refunds.

To find out more information, follow this link to the Citizens Advice website.