Background

On 19 December 2022, the government announced further schemes to increase the cost-of-living package of assistance the government has in place to help reduce energy bills for households across the United Kingdom.

Two of these schemes are Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding and Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Fuel Payment.

• Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding – is a one-off non-repayable payment of £400 for households that did not qualify for the £400 Energy Bills Discount Scheme, which was administered by energy suppliers. This is due to those households not having a direct contractual relationship with their electricity supplier.
• The Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Fuel Payment – is a one-off non-repayable payment of £200 directed to those households that heat their homes using alternative energy sources, such as oil, coal, liquified petroleum gas (LPG) or biomass rather than gas or electricity. The vast majority of households eligible for the Alternative Fuel Payment scheme in Great Britain will receive payment automatically via their electricity supplier with no need to take any action.

For the small number of customers who are unable to receive the funding automatically, for instance households in Great Britain without a direct relationship with an electricity supplier, they will need to apply for it.

Apply

These schemes closed to new applications on 31 May 2023.

Payment

Once customers have applied to receive support, and their applications have passed initial eligibility checks, details will be shared with the applicant’s local authority for final processing. Payment will be made to eligible households by the local authority using funding that has been provided to it by the government.

Local authorities will aim to pay eligible claims within 30 working days from the date of application (subject to all necessary information being provided). Please can we ask households not to contact us to chase payment as this will not speed up the process and will deflect us from processing applications as quickly as possible.

Contacts

Any questions about the schemes should be directed to the government department which is responsible for these schemes.

The contact details are: Email: alternativefunding@ebss.beis.gov.uk

Processing and Data Sharing

The Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding data privacy notice is published online: Privacy Notice – Energy Bills Support Scheme – GOV.UK. The Privacy Notice sets out how the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will use the personal data collected from local authorities, consumers, contracted organisations and the rights of consumers. It is made under Articles 13 and 14 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation.

The council will share necessary personal information with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for the purposes of administering this scheme such as information from its records verifying the applicant’s name, address or Council Tax status. This data sharing is governed by a Data Sharing Agreement between the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Somerset Council.