Cost of Living

JC

Support for Households:

Energy Bills Support Scheme 

Provides a £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households to help with their energy bills over winter 2022 to 2023.

You do not need to apply for the discount, and there’s no need to contact your energy supplier. If you get a message asking for your bank details, this could be a scam. You can report messages you think are suspicious. 

The discount will be applied to your monthly household electricity bill for 6 months starting in October 2022.

You’ll receive:

  • £66 in October and November
  • £67 in December, January, February and March

You’ll get the discount monthly, even if you pay for your energy quarterly or use a payment card.

Traditional prepayment meter users will get equivalent vouchers that you will need to redeem - see If you have a traditional prepayment meter for more information.

Your electricity supplier should provide more guidance on the scheme before it starts. If you have not received your first instalment by the end of October 2022, you need to contact your supplier.

For more information: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/getting-the-energy-bills-support-scheme-dis… 

Energy Price Guarantee

The Energy Price Guarantee limits the amount that you can be charged per unit of gas or electricity, so your exact bill amount will continue to be influenced by how much energy you use.

You do not need to apply, and there’s no need to contact your energy supplier. The Energy Price Guarantee will reduce the unit cost of electricity and gas so that a typical household in Great Britain will save around £700 this Winter, based on what energy prices would have been under the current price cap - reducing bills by roughly a third. 

For more information: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-bills-support/energy-…

If you do not use mains gas for your heating:

Many of my constituents are off the gas grid so use alternative fuels, such as heating oil or LPG to heat their homes.

The Government have announced the Alternative Fuel Payment (AFP) which will provide a one-off payment to UK households that use alternative fuels for heating, such as heating oil or LPG, instead of mains gas. The proposed £100 payment has now been increased to £200 following the Chancellor's Autumn Statement, and will ensure that all households who do not benefit through the Energy Price Guarantee to heat their homes, receive support for the cost of the fuel they do use.

Households eligible for these payments will receive £200 as a credit on their electricity bill this winter. Households who are eligible for but who do not receive the AFP or the £200 heat network payment, because they do not have a relationship with an electricity supplier for example, will receive the £200 via the AFP Alternative Fund which will be provided by a designated body. The government is committed to delivering this support to customers as fast as possible and further detail about the AFP Alternative Fund will be published shortly, including details of when payments will be made.

The £200 payment has been calculated to ensure that a typical customer using heating oil does not face a higher rate of growth in their heating costs since last winter, in comparison to those using mains gas who are supported by the Energy Price Guarantee.

The government will continue to monitor the prices of alternative fuels, such as heating oil, and will consider further intervention if required to protect UK households from extraordinary fuel prices. The AFP will be provided to all customers who use an alternative fuel to mains gas. This includes, for example, heating oil, LPG, coal, and biomass.

The most vulnerable UK households will also continue to receive £1,200 of support provided in instalments over the year, through discounts to Council Tax and Cost of Living payments for those in receipt of certain benefits.

You may be able to get other kinds of support, including:

For more information about other types of support with the cost of living: https://www.gov.uk/cost-of-living

Support for Businesses, Schools & Charities:

Energy Bill Relief Scheme

This scheme will provide energy bill relief for non-domestic customers in Great Britain. Discounts will be applied to energy usage initially between 1 October 2022 and 31 March 2023. 

The scheme will be available to everyone on a non-domestic contract including:

  • businesses
  • voluntary sector organisations, such as charities
  • public sector organisations such as schools, hospitals and care homes

who are:

  • on existing fixed price contracts that were agreed on or after 1 December 2021
  • signing new fixed price contracts
  • on deemed / out of contract or variable tariffs
  • on flexible purchase or similar contracts

The government will provide a discount on your gas and electricity unit prices. To calculate your discount, the estimated wholesale portion of the unit price you would be paying this winter will be compared to a baseline ‘government supported price’ which is lower than currently expected wholesale prices this winter.

For all non-domestic energy users in Great Britain this government supported price has been set at:

  • £211 per megawatt hour (MWh) for electricity
  • £75 per MWh for gas

Suppliers will apply reductions to the bills of all eligible non-domestic customers. The government will compensate suppliers for the reduction in wholesale gas and electricity unit prices that they are passing onto non-domestic customers. The support will be automatically applied to all eligible bills. You do not need to take action or apply to the scheme. The savings for energy used in October will be seen in your October bills, which would usually be received in November.

For more information: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/energy-bill-relief-scheme-help-for-business…

Other support for business/non-domestic customers

There is a range of ongoing schemes in place to support businesses with their energy costs. These include:

  • the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF), which consists of £315 million live grant funding that supports manufacturers with high energy use to cut their energy bills and carbon emissions by investing in energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies
  • a number of advice and support schemes that businesses may be eligible for, to help to improve the energy performance of buildings and processes and lower their energy bills. Search for local schemes that provide advice and grants
  • the UK Business Climate Hub which provides practical steps on cutting emissions and saving money. If businesses are based in England, they may also be able to access support via local Growth Hubs, who they can get in touch with to find out more
  • at Budget 2021 the government committed to freezing the business rates multiplier in 2022 to 2023, which is a tax cut worth £4.6 billion to businesses over the next 5 years