How can I opt out of the £200 energy scheme?

QrizB

stokegal said:

It just seems like a way for the energy companies to get more money.. if your one household which then splits into 3 (say 2 children leave home) they get £600 back for the £200 loan.
i don’t understand how it’s even legal

The surcharge will go back to the government. If anyone profits, it's the Exchequer.

It's legal because either:

• A law already exists that the government will use; or
• The government will make a law to permit it.
  

MWT

QrizB said:

Mojisola said:

GingerTim said:

You can't, it's a universal measure applied to every bill, not to an individual.

How will this work with pre-paid meters? 

Pre-paid smart meters (topped up with an app) can be credited remotely.

Key meters? Yet to be seen, although there are various options. Someone said this week that they'd been sent a voucher by their HA, for example.

The answer given this morning was that it would be handled in the same way as the WHD, so yes, vouchers will be sent out for those that cannot be handled any other way.

Aylesbury_Duck

Easily: There's nothing stopping you making a one-off extraordinary payment of £200 to your energy account, so that you're never "borrowing" the money in the first place.  

Problem solved.

GingerTim

Bizarrely, I'm going to be in profit on my electricity bill this year. My usage is on track to be same as last year, so about £320 - but with the £200 credit, and £220 cashback from EDF for fixing last summer I'll actually be up. Not something I thought I'd ever be able to say about a utility bill.

Sea_Shell

I'm sceptical of the transparency of the whole thing TBH.  

I bet our bills won't show this as a separate line in the calculations, once the clawback begins!!   So we can see and KNOW that we're only paying back £200 and not a penny more.

MWT

Sea_Shell said:

I'm sceptical of the transparency of the whole thing TBH.  

I bet our bills won't show this as a separate line in the calculations, once the clawback begins!!   So we can see and KNOW that we're only paying back £200 and not a penny more.

That is a certainty as those who do not have an account now  and so do not receive the £200 discount will also be paying extra to cover the current cost of that discount if they have an energy account at the time.

There will be no direct matching between recipients now and those paying extra later.

GibbsRule_No3.

QrizB said:

Mojisola said:

GingerTim said:

You can't, it's a universal measure applied to every bill, not to an individual.

How will this work with pre-paid meters? 

Pre-paid smart meters (topped up with an app) can be credited remotely.

Key meters? Yet to be seen, although there are various options. Someone said this week that they'd been sent a voucher by their HA, for example.

QrizB it might have been me asking about the HA voucher.  They sent me a voucher, due to the Energy rating of the property.  Reading the voucher it only mentioned going to a PayPoint shop and having the £20x4 payments put on three types of prepayment options.  I pay via DD so enquired how that would work with the voucher, seems they sent the wrong voucher to me and I should receive the correct one within 48 hours.  So I assume with this new announcement vouchers will be given to prepayment meter people to allow the top up.

facade

Sea_Shell said:

I'm sceptical of the transparency of the whole thing TBH.  

I bet our bills won't show this as a separate line in the calculations, once the clawback begins!!   So we can see and KNOW that we're only paying back £200 and not a penny more.

I think they will show a levy on the standing charge- an additional tax, that way even if you managed to get a fix that goes into the repayment period, your energy supplier can still apply it as it is a taxation change.

MWT

facade said:

I think they will show a levy on the standing charge- an additional tax, that way even if you managed to get a fix that goes into the repayment period, your energy supplier can still apply it as it is a taxation change.

The point remains though that it will be applied to all accounts at that time, not just those that benefited from the discount.

It is not a specific recovery from those who received the benefit.

What_time_is_it

To be honest it wouldn't surprise me if the whole thing unravelled and the policy is reversed before the price cap even takes effect in April. It's a rubbish scheme.