£400 rebate - what if you dont spend £67 that month

javixeneize

Hi

Question about the £400 rebate. I understand there will be a £67 discount from the bill in the winter months, but, what  If you are one month away and you dont spend £67? Will this still be applied?

Spies

Yes you'll build up a credit. 

pochase

No credit, there will be a bank transfer paying back the difference between usage and the £66/£67

And this can be either based on a real bill or your fixed direct debit.

Spies

pochase said:

No credit, there will be a bank transfer paying back the difference between usage and the £66/£67

And this can be either based on a real bill or your fixed direct debit.

No there won't, the credit is applied directly by your energy provider to your balance, it doesn't work the same way as the rebate handled by the council.

It's all here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/energy-bills-support-scheme-explainer 

Specifically... 

households will see a discount of £66 applied to their energy bills in October and November, rising to £67 each month from December through to March 2023

The_Green_Hornet

Spies said:

pochase said:

No credit, there will be a bank transfer paying back the difference between usage and the £66/£67

And this can be either based on a real bill or your fixed direct debit.

No there won't, the credit is applied directly by your energy provider to your balance, it doesn't work the same way as the rebate handled by the council.

It's all here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/energy-bills-support-scheme-explainer 

Specifically... 

households will see a discount of £66 applied to their energy bills in October and November, rising to £67 each month from December through to March 2023

You should have carried on reading your own link.

• direct debit customers will receive the discount automatically as a reduction to the monthly direct debit amount collected, or as a refund to the customer’s bank account following direct debit collection during each month of delivery

Spies

My mistake - I was convinced it was the other way. 

Section62

The_Green_Hornet said:

You should have carried on reading your own link.

• direct debit customers will receive the discount automatically as a reduction to the monthly direct debit amount collected, or as a refund to the customer’s bank account following direct debit collection during each month of delivery

I'm not sure that means what it appears to mean.

I think it means that either 1) the energy co will reduce the amount of the DD or 2) the energy company will keep the DD at the same level, and pay £67 back to the customer.

I think it is written with the majority of customers whose monthly DD is significantly more than £67 in mind, not the edge cases where people use/pay less than that amount each month.

It doesn't explicitly answer the OP's question about what happens if your normal monthly DD is less than £67.  It implies a refund may be made after a DD has been taken, but it doesn't explicitly state that residual amounts must be sent to the customer's bank account rather than being held as credit on account.

In fact if we continue reading that link it says -

more supplier guidance on this will be published ahead of October’s launch

So unless anyone knows that this detail has been specifically dealt with elsewhere then I'd suggest we probably won't know for sure (either way) until then.

EssexHebridean

I REALLY hope this is badly worded, as to give the £66 monthly payment for each month and at the same time reduce the DD amount is a sure-fire way of ensuring that in a huge number of households that money will simply get frittered away and never be used for anything close to the everyday cost of living.  

The_Green_Hornet

Section62 said:

The_Green_Hornet said:

You should have carried on reading your own link.

• direct debit customers will receive the discount automatically as a reduction to the monthly direct debit amount collected, or as a refund to the customer’s bank account following direct debit collection during each month of delivery

I'm not sure that means what it appears to mean.

I think it means that either 1) the energy co will reduce the amount of the DD or 2) the energy company will keep the DD at the same level, and pay £67 back to the customer.

I think it is written with the majority of customers whose monthly DD is significantly more than £67 in mind, not the edge cases where people use/pay less than that amount each month.

It doesn't explicitly answer the OP's question about what happens if your normal monthly DD is less than £67.  It implies a refund may be made after a DD has been taken, but it doesn't explicitly state that residual amounts must be sent to the customer's bank account rather than being held as credit on account.

In fact if we continue reading that link it says -

more supplier guidance on this will be published ahead of October’s launch

So unless anyone knows that this detail has been specifically dealt with elsewhere then I'd suggest we probably won't know for sure (either way) until then.

It means that if your DD is £100 you will only pay £33/£34 & if your DD is £50 you will pay nothing and  £16/£17 will be paid into your bank account.

MattMattMattUK

EssexHebridean said:

I REALLY hope this is badly worded, as to give the £66 monthly payment for each month and at the same time reduce the DD amount is a sure-fire way of ensuring that in a huge number of households that money will simply get frittered away and never be used for anything close to the everyday cost of living.  

Ultimately that will happen with any handouts if that is what people want to do. If people want to pay less into their energy account/pre-pay meter and use the rest on Percy Pigs, Lego or neon yellow jumpsuits then we cannot stop them. 

Section62

EssexHebridean said:

I REALLY hope this is badly worded, as to give the £66 monthly payment for each month and at the same time reduce the DD amount is a sure-fire way of ensuring that in a huge number of households that money will simply get frittered away and never be used for anything close to the everyday cost of living.  

I think it is the norm for stuff on the .gov website to be oversimplistic, and sometimes just plain wrong.

Automatic monthly refunds for all eligible customers would be inconsistent with the long held view of Government and Ofgem that building up credit (so long as it isn't excessive) is a good thing, especially for those who struggle to pay their bills.

It would also be an administrative nonsense to direct credit a few pounds (or pence) into people's bank accounts, only to take the money back again a few weeks later.

I think it likely more work is being done on the details, hence the reference to "supplier guidance" coming out later.  That said, on past performance an administrative nonsense is also a quite likely outcome for some of us.