British Gas Social Tariff rules discriminate against disabled people

jw123

I have just tried registering for the British Gas Essentials Tariff. We are already on their cheapest Websaver Tariff but I thought I'd have a go at getting the latest price increase deferred until April. My husband suffers from Parkinson's Disease and receives Pension Credit Guarantee, DLA, Incapacity Benefit and a very small pension. I receive Carer's Allowance for looking after him full-time and we get Full Council Tax Benefit. Although my husband is only 64 he should qualify for Essentials due to receipt of DLA. Unfortunately our annual income is in excess of their £15K limit so they refused to switch us. This is because unlike the majority of other organizations, British Gas include DLA in their income calculation otherwise we would have qualified. The British Gas rules effectively means that those who are most in need of financial help i.e. anyone whose sole income is benefits, one of which is higher rate DLA, may fail to qualify. Surely DLA is supposed to be used to cover additional expenses arising from being disabled, not basic household expenses, so they are effectively discriminating against the disabled.

Gerrard_8_lfc

You would qualify for other aspects of the essentials i.e insulation ect. I don't feel it is discrimination because BG customers shouldn't need to pay more to subsidise a cheap tariff for people on benefits.

christabell

Phone or go the the Home Heat Helpline.....they will help you. Phone 0800 33 66 99

www.homeheathelpline.org.uk

They will help you

jw123

Gerrard_8_lfc wrote: »

You would qualify for other aspects of the essentials i.e insulation ect. I don't feel it is discrimination because BG customers shouldn't need to pay more to subsidise a cheap tariff for people on benefits.

I would tend to agree for those who are on benefits because they WON'T work but not for those who CAN'T work as a result of illness or caring responsibilities. I suspect your attitude would change if you were disabled. Both my husband and I have worked all our lives, paying taxes and never before claiming benefits. We are now in a situation where we have no choice - it's claim benefits or starve and live on the streets. We have already done everything we can to reduce our outgoings, including improving our energy efficiency. We don't smoke, drink or have pets and we can't afford to go out. We have no choice other that to sit at home and in this weather that means putting the heating on or freezing - when you are permanently ill you need to keep warm. How would YOU cope if you knew that through no fault of your own there was no way you could increase your income yet your basic living expenses were continually increasing?

Gerrard_8_lfc

Social Tariff's are not always the cheapest option. Put your annual consumption into a comparison website to find the cheapest deal for you. Also remember to claim your £25 Cold Winter Payments if you are eligible and the £250 Winter Fuel Allowance.

undaunted

I'm not convinced that is disability discrimination I'm afraid. It seems from your post that, whether disabled or not, if you had an income under 15k you would have qualified. As you have an income over 15k you do not, ie being disabled or not makes no difference to the outcome.

If your unhappy however you could of course consider switching to another provider

KimYeovil

The extra benefit rates are for basic household expenses. What makes you think they are not?

cing0

I agree, social tariffs are not necessarily for those on low incomes, young,old, ill or disabled. The energy companies have one thing in common and that is they all have unique eligibility criteria for social tariffs.
Some have benefit as part of the eligibility criteria that are not even means tested so search this forum for social tariff in the subject and start switching to something suitable !

christabell wrote: »

Phone or go the the Home Heat Helpline.....they will help you. Phone 0800 33 66 99

www.homeheathelpline.org.uk

They will help you

Don't bother, all Home Heat Helpline do is put you though to your current supplier, kinda like a 118118 but freephone.

t0rt0ise

KimYeovil wrote: »

The extra benefit rates are for basic household expenses. What makes you think they are not?

If we ignore the acerbic tone we get to quite an interesting thought. What is the DLA meant to be used for? Looking on the gov website, it would seem to be a benefit for those who need someone else to care for them. Whether that counts as basic household expenses as Kim tells us is debateable.

With regard to the social tariffs as a whole, interestingly I was asked in a survey just today, whether I thought the social tariffs should be based on the same criteria across all the suppliers. So it seems that some are thinking about it and things may eventually change.

Cardew

I think the important distinction is that State Benefits are funded by the taxpayer, whereas the subsidy for social tariffs are funded by other gas/electricty customers in(slightly) higher prices.

The previous Government pulled off a master stroke in imposing on the Energy companies(and hence their customers) the costs of funding social tariffs, subsidies for pre-pay meter customers and the subsidies for 'green' generation of electricity. The latter is particularly galling as those subsidies go to people who can afford to fund very expensive PV systems or venture capitalists behind the 'rent a roof' schemes!

MillicentBystander

Whilst i am in no way defending the previous Govt, I think it's fair to say that, due to a stupid, politically-motivated decision all those years ago by the ***** who is not for turning each successive Govt. (of any political persuasion) has been handed a poisioned chalice. IMO privatisation of the gas and electric industry was the worst political decision of the second half of the last century.