18 January 2023 , 09:54
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British Gas is to give thousands of prepayment customers free £250 in energy credit to help pay their bills.
The money will be rewarded to those who are struggling with energy costs, which have risen astronomically over the last year.
British Gas says it will identify those who are eligible for it - meaning you shouldn’t need to apply for the help.
It comes as part of a new £10million support package announced by the energy giant today to help prepayment customers.
Prepay meters are often installed when a household falls behind on their bills - but they’re more expensive than paying by direct debit.
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British Gas customers could get £250 toward their bills (Getty Images)As part of its extra support, British Gas says it will ban forced remote switches to prepay meters this winter, unless a customer asks for one.
The UK’s biggest energy provider will also run extra vulnerability checks and will install smart prepay meters so customers having issues can be identified quickly.
The new help from British Gas comes after worrying research from Citizens Advice showed 3.2 million people ran out of credit last year because they couldn’t afford to top up their meter.
This figure equates to around one household cut-off every 10 seconds, said Citizens Advice - with more than two million people having been disconnected at least once a month.
In particular, the charity is the most concerned about disabled people and those living with long-term health conditions.
Chris O’Shea, Chief Executive of Centrica, parent company of British Gas said: “We know that some prepayment customers are self-disconnecting and not coming forward for help, so we have reviewed our policies to do more to target support at this group.
“As a responsible business we are doing all we can to support our customers during this crisis – our work with the British Gas Energy Trust provides grants and money advice services.
“As well as helping our customers with much needed cash grants, I’m really proud of how our teams are giving expert advice and support at this busy time to help guide people through this crisis.
“Our call centres are helping around a million energy customers each month with their bills and our engineers are in homes every day advising customers on how to be more energy efficient and make savings.”