03 February 2023 , 10:33
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Around 900,000 households will be able to access the £400 energy bill help at the end of February rather than at the end of January as originally planned.
The UK Government has announced that the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding application portal is expected to be up and running by Monday, February 27, 2023.
Once the online hub and telephone helpline opens, households without a direct relationship with a domestic electricity supplier can apply for their £400 energy payment.
This includes people who live in park homes, houseboats, off-grid and care homes, or those paying their energy bills as part of an all-inclusive rental agreement with their landlord.
Energy Minister Graham Stuart told MPs about the revised opening date in the House of Commons last week.
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The Energy Minister blamed the delay on the "complicated" nature of the application process.
He told MPs: “The EBSS alternative funding sounds simple, but it is not. It is a novel scheme with ambitious timescales. It is a complex cohort with a range of different energy arrangements, including off-grid, direct to commercial and via intermediaries."
Mr Stuart said the Government must "make sure" it sorts out all complexities first because, if it "does not get it right first time" it would cause a delay in payments to consumers.
The energy minister also explained that "robust fraud checks are necessary for an application-based system, to which there is no alternative for this group" and every step of the process must be tested.
He added: “My priority is to get funding to people as quickly as possible.”
The Government announced the alternative finding scheme last year as those who do not have a direct relationship with their supplier have had to face significant rises to their bills with little support.
The group includes:
- care home residents
- residents of park homes
- tenants in certain private and social rented homes
- homes supplied via private wires
- residents of caravans and houseboats on registered sites
- farmers living in domestic farmhouses
- off-grid households
To get this support, these households will need to submit an online form through the Government's website when it opens at the end of this month.
Once the application is submitted and has been processed and verified, eligible applications will be shared with local councils across England, Scotland and Wales, who will deliver the one-off, non-repayable £400 payment.
The exact you will then receive the cash depends on when you submit your application and when you local authority can process the payment.
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The payment will likely be made at some point in March, but no confirmation of this has yet been made by the Government.