- By Lucy Hooker & Dan Whitworth
- Business reporters, BBC News
Image supply, Getty Images
The Alternative Funding scheme was arrange for households reminiscent of these in slim boats or park houses
A scheme designed to assist individuals who missed out on final winter’s £400 energy bill subsidy was a “staggering failure”, a senior MP has mentioned.
The Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding was arrange for households who should not have an energy provider, reminiscent of these in park houses.
Nearly 1,000,000 households might apply however solely a fraction obtained the cash.
MP Angus MacNeil mentioned the federal government ought to reopen the scheme, saying it had “missed the most vulnerable”.
The authorities mentioned it had spent greater than £50m supporting 130,000 households with no home energy provider.
All UK households had been eligible for the £400 assist with gasoline payments, after energy costs rose sharply final yr. For households who pay their payments by direct debit, the assist was given mechanically by month-to-month funds from October to March.
But individuals who stay off-grid, on slim boats, travellers, folks in park houses and a few tenants and other people on warmth networks, didn’t mechanically obtain the assist, as a result of they didn’t have an energy supplier.
The authorities arrange the Alternative Funding scheme for the over 900,000 households in these classes. It additionally utilized to folks dwelling in care houses, who’re charged for energy prices of their payments.
But solely 141,000 bill-payers managed to use for and obtain the subsidy earlier than the scheme closed on 31 May.
PHD scholar Sheree Smith had hoped cash from the scheme would assist her
PHD scholar Sheree Smith mentioned she spent extra time at college than at her flat so she did not need to pay greater energy payments.
She instructed BBC Breakfast: “I was actually hoping that £400 would have helped me to climate the storm so I might keep in my flat, however finally it did not are available time.
“I ended up having to return to my mother and father.”
Mr MacNeil, a former SNP member, who now sits as an impartial and chairs Parliament’s energy safety and internet zero committee, mentioned the scheme ought to be improved and prolonged so that folks might declare the subsidy they had been entitled to.
“Quite a lot of these will probably be susceptible people who find themselves significantly struggling the chunk of the energy worth spike and authorities ought to be transferring heaven and earth nearly, to verify these persons are getting the cash,” Mr MacNeil mentioned in an interview with the BBC’s Money Box programme.
In his function as chair of the parliamentary committee, Mr MacNeil is because of query Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Grant Shapps in September. Mr MacNeil mentioned he would ask him to relaunch the scheme and make it simpler to make use of, since “clearly supply has failed”.
Some candidates criticised the scheme for being too advanced or not recognising their circumstances. Others mentioned their functions had been repeatedly rejected, regardless of being eligible.
A authorities spokesperson mentioned: “We spent billions to guard households when costs rose over winter, overlaying almost half a typical family’s energy bill.
“We’re now seeing costs fall even further with wholesale energy prices down by over two thirds since their peak.”
