£400 Energy Bills Support Scheme: am I eligble and how do I receive it?
Update: The Energy Bills Support Scheme ended in March 2023.
Am I eligible?
Every household in England is eligible so yes, if you are our tenant, you should be eligible.
How do I receive it?
The payment will be made from October in 6 instalments. £66 for the first 2 months, and £67 for the next 4. The money will be paid directly to your energy supplier and applied as a credit on your account. You do not need to apply, this will all be done automatically. How this is processed will be slightly different depending on how you pay your bills:
Direct Debit
If you pay by direct debit (which we strongly encourage as you often receive a discount for doing so) the payment will be reflected in either a lower monthly payment that month or as a refund into your bank account.
Standard Credit
This is where you pay your bills on receipt of the bill, i.e. no direct debit set up and not on pre-pay meters. The payment will show as a credit on your account so you should have a lower payment request. Make sure to read through your bills in Oct-Mar to make sure the payment has been applied each month.
Pre-payment meter
If you have a smart pre-payment meter, i.e. you don’t insert a physical card/key into the meter to top up then the payment will be applied directly to your meter. If you have traditional pre-payment meters with cards/keys then you will receive vouchers by text message, email or post that can be redeemed at your usual top-up point. If you have a traditional pre-payment meter, then it is extremely important that all your account and contact details are up to date with your energy supplier before October to make sure you receive these vouchers without delay.
My bills are included in my rent, will I receive anything?
Government guidance is that the £400 discount should be passed on to tenants, even if bills are included in their rent.
When you take out a bills inclusive package with MCR/LIV Move, your bills are normally managed by MCR/LIV Move but, in a few cases, the landlords managed the bills themselves. As payment for utilities are included in your rent under the same terms no matter who pays your bills, it’s not normally specified who pays your bills, but we can provide this information upon request.
If your bills are managed by MCR/LIV Move then we use commercial suppliers for the majority of our accounts. Commercial contracts are not eligible for the Energy Bill Support Scheme. For this reason, most of our tenants will not receive any payments. However, we do have some contracts that are on domestic tariffs and in this instance we will refund tenants. We will contact any tenants who are eligible for the refund and arrange payments with them directly.
For tenants whose landlords pay their bills, we have advised them of the government guidance and awaiting their instructions on if they are eligible and how payments will be made if so. We will contact any tenants who can expect payments directly to make arrangements to receive any monies.
Beware of scams
You will not be asked to apply/register at any point and your supplier will never ask for bank details to make this payment. If you receive any calls/texts/emails you are unsure of, hang up and call the number on your bills/supplier’s website to confirm it is them who contacted you.
Forward any suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk and any texts to 7726. You can find more information on this and what to do if you think you have been the victim of a scam on the government’s website.
