Will £400 be paid into gas or electric account?

Ultrasonic

MattMattMattUK said:

Ultrasonic said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Ultrasonic said:

doesntnotcompute said:

NedS said:

Electricity account, as quoted here:

...with all domestic electricity customers receiving at least £400.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-living-support/cost-of-living-support-factsheet-26-may-2022

".... customers with pre-payment meters will have the money applied to their meter or paid via a voucher" Hmm.... prepayment meters can't handle that amount. There would have to be multiple vouchers, I wonder how long they will be valid for.

I slightly wonder if everyone may be getting multiple payments rather than a single one actually? Below is the statement from the government summary, and surely they don't mean some won't get their £400 till six months after October? I do appreciate it's also being described as a 'one off payment' though. 

• Energy suppliers will deliver this support to households with a domestic electricity meter over six months from October. Direct debit and credit customers will have the money credited to their account, while customers with pre-payment meters will have the money applied to their meter or paid via a voucher.

I would interpret that to mean October is when it starts, and the energy companies have six months to get through everyone.

Which wouldn't seem remotely good enough and is why I was considering that something else may be meant. If you were someone who felt they actually needed the £400 would you think it reasonable to not be paid it till next April?

I do not think the £400 is actually meant for those who need it, that is why there are the specific other amounts targeted at pensioners, the disabled and low income households. The £400 is likely a combination of a sweetener to allow them to get through the rest of the money and a bribe to try and distract people from the Johnson administration's indiscretions. 

I'm not entirely sure that's true, since surely there must be a significant subset of households that won't be eligible for any of the other payments announced today but who will be pushed into significant financial hardship by high energy bills over the coming months? Which is not to say there won't be loads of people getting the money who don't need it. There will be.

Spoonie_Turtle

Ultrasonic said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Ultrasonic said:

doesntnotcompute said:

NedS said:

Electricity account, as quoted here:

...with all domestic electricity customers receiving at least £400.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-living-support/cost-of-living-support-factsheet-26-may-2022

".... customers with pre-payment meters will have the money applied to their meter or paid via a voucher" Hmm.... prepayment meters can't handle that amount. There would have to be multiple vouchers, I wonder how long they will be valid for.

I slightly wonder if everyone may be getting multiple payments rather than a single one actually? Below is the statement from the government summary, and surely they don't mean some won't get their £400 till six months after October? I do appreciate it's also being described as a 'one off payment' though. 

• Energy suppliers will deliver this support to households with a domestic electricity meter over six months from October. Direct debit and credit customers will have the money credited to their account, while customers with pre-payment meters will have the money applied to their meter or paid via a voucher.

I would interpret that to mean October is when it starts, and the energy companies have six months to get through everyone.

Which wouldn't seem remotely good enough and is why I was considering that something else may be meant. If you were someone who felt they actually needed the £400 would you think it reasonable to not be paid it till next April?

That's a good point.  The wording 'payments' threw me off, because from what I understand for most customers it will be applied as credit rather than an actual payment.  However, the council tax 'energy rebate' was originally supposed to be in April but turned out to be that's when it started, with various councils not managing to do it in April at all - which wasn't even for everyone.  And there were/are people who were already very much in need of that.

Surely crediting everyone's account with a fixed amount each month for six months would be more effort/time than just getting through one-off credits for everyone.

Ultrasonic

These is about the weakest bit of evidence I recall ever posting on a forum (!) but this article in The Sun says the payments will be in instalments:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/18691678/rishi-sunak-energy-discount-help/

I'm keeping this firmly in the 'I'm not sure' category for now but I do think this is at least a possibility.

molerat

Ultrasonic said:

These is about the weakest bit of evidence I recall ever posting on a forum (!) but this article in The Sun says the payments will be in instalments:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/18691678/rishi-sunak-energy-discount-help/

I'm keeping this firmly in the 'I'm not sure' category for now but I do think this is at least a possibility.

They also state

£300 one-off payment to low-income pensioners

But the article it links to states

£300 one-off payment to pensioners

MattMattMattUK

Ultrasonic said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Ultrasonic said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Ultrasonic said:

doesntnotcompute said:

NedS said:

Electricity account, as quoted here:

...with all domestic electricity customers receiving at least £400.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-living-support/cost-of-living-support-factsheet-26-may-2022

".... customers with pre-payment meters will have the money applied to their meter or paid via a voucher" Hmm.... prepayment meters can't handle that amount. There would have to be multiple vouchers, I wonder how long they will be valid for.

I slightly wonder if everyone may be getting multiple payments rather than a single one actually? Below is the statement from the government summary, and surely they don't mean some won't get their £400 till six months after October? I do appreciate it's also being described as a 'one off payment' though. 

• Energy suppliers will deliver this support to households with a domestic electricity meter over six months from October. Direct debit and credit customers will have the money credited to their account, while customers with pre-payment meters will have the money applied to their meter or paid via a voucher.

I would interpret that to mean October is when it starts, and the energy companies have six months to get through everyone.

Which wouldn't seem remotely good enough and is why I was considering that something else may be meant. If you were someone who felt they actually needed the £400 would you think it reasonable to not be paid it till next April?

I do not think the £400 is actually meant for those who need it, that is why there are the specific other amounts targeted at pensioners, the disabled and low income households. The £400 is likely a combination of a sweetener to allow them to get through the rest of the money and a bribe to try and distract people from the Johnson administration's indiscretions. 

I'm not entirely sure that's true, since surely there must be a significant subset of households that won't be eligible for any of the other payments announced today but who will be pushed into significant financial hardship by high energy bills over the coming months? Which is not to say there won't be loads of people getting the money who don't need it. There will be.

I know I am going to be in the latter group, it seems pointless to take money off me in tax, to just hand it back again, money should utilised effectively by the state, circulating it around does not seem to do that.

I think there will be some, but the reality is that benefits kick in and stay in at still quite reasonable elements of earnings. I am sure there are households who only get the £400 who might find their discretionary expenditure somewhat constrained by the cost rises, but equally they are unlikely to be in the group who has to choose between heating and eating and I am not sure that the £400 pay-out will really make that much different to that group. Increasing the targeted funding would have probably been better overall than the mass £400, but I also think that would not have been politically viable, especially for the Conservatives. 

clairewoods

2 address, seperate households but one meter/one energy account in Landlords name.  We both pay our share of the bill.  Are we both eligible for the £400 and who to contact to make them aware of this? 

MattMattMattUK

clairewoods said:

2 address, seperate households but one meter/one energy account in Landlords name.  We both pay our share of the bill.  Are we both eligible for the £400 and who to contact to make them aware of this? 

The amount will be paid into the account for the meter which by the sound of it is in the landlords name. Only one £400 payment will be made. 

superkoopauk

In reality no one knows how this £400 will be paid yet.  As before BEIS will have to design the scheme and we all saw how they struggled with the original £200 loan proposal.  But logically although electricity supplies are used to identify the households due a credit the money is meant to go against both fuels.

t0rt0ise

If the £400 is paid monthly it's going to make changing suppliers complicated.

brewerdave

t0rt0ise said:

If the £400 is paid monthly it's going to make changing suppliers complicated.

Beat me to it !! Was just thinking how are instalments going to work if you are moving house in the 6 months ?