Is there any help for prepay gas customers?

Danny_V

Hello

I live in a small studio flat and I have gas central heating, and gas boiler heats my water, and gas hobs on my cooker.
I noticed the £400 energy grant to help is in the form of electricity vouchers, and obviously I am going to struggle more to pay for my gas

I cannot get into debt because I am prepay, so I cannot apply for the British Gas Fund as far as I'm aware
I'm in receipt of ESA for health reasons and PIP.

Is there any help for me and other people like me? 

thanks for any replies and help

Daniel

Mobtr

Danny_V said:

Hello

I live in a small studio flat and I have gas central heating, and gas boiler heats my water, and gas hobs on my cooker.
I noticed the £400 energy grant to help is in the form of electricity vouchers, and obviously I am going to struggle more to pay for my gas

I cannot get into debt because I am prepay, so I cannot apply for the British Gas Fund as far as I'm aware
I'm in receipt of ESA for health reasons and PIP.

Is there any help for me and other people like me? 

thanks for any replies and help

Daniel

You’ll be getting vouchers for your electricity. I don’t know for certain but you might be able to use them for your gas instead.  Otherwise put the money you would have put on your electricity onto your gas. 

Danny_V

Oh, and forgot to mention, my thermostat even when set to zero, the boiler has kicked in and put the heating on in very cold winters, the windows in my flat are crap and the room must get to below zero. I cannot ask my landlord to fix this issue without him moving me out, and I can't do that. 

Danny_V

Mobtr said:

Danny_V said:

Hello

I live in a small studio flat and I have gas central heating, and gas boiler heats my water, and gas hobs on my cooker.
I noticed the £400 energy grant to help is in the form of electricity vouchers, and obviously I am going to struggle more to pay for my gas

I cannot get into debt because I am prepay, so I cannot apply for the British Gas Fund as far as I'm aware
I'm in receipt of ESA for health reasons and PIP.

Is there any help for me and other people like me? 

thanks for any replies and help

Daniel

You’ll be getting vouchers for your electricity. I don’t know for certain but you might be able to use them for your gas instead.  Otherwise put the money you would have put on your electricity onto your gas. 

It seems incredible that they wouldn't have considered people have gas fired central heating, and that is what they'll be using to keep warm. My electric usage is already very low so I'm not sure the money I usually spend on electric would be equal to having to keep the heating on, run my taps, cook my food etc. 

Mobtr

Danny_V said:

Mobtr said:

Danny_V said:

Hello

I live in a small studio flat and I have gas central heating, and gas boiler heats my water, and gas hobs on my cooker.
I noticed the £400 energy grant to help is in the form of electricity vouchers, and obviously I am going to struggle more to pay for my gas

I cannot get into debt because I am prepay, so I cannot apply for the British Gas Fund as far as I'm aware
I'm in receipt of ESA for health reasons and PIP.

Is there any help for me and other people like me? 

thanks for any replies and help

Daniel

You’ll be getting vouchers for your electricity. I don’t know for certain but you might be able to use them for your gas instead.  Otherwise put the money you would have put on your electricity onto your gas. 

It seems incredible that they wouldn't have considered people have gas fired central heating, and that is what they'll be using to keep warm. My electric usage is already very low so I'm not sure the money I usually spend on electric would be equal to having to keep the heating on, run my taps, cook my food etc. 

they will have done, however everyone has electricity but not everyone has gas which is why it’s being applied to electricity accounts. You should get your first voucher in the first 2 weeks of October, take it to the Post Office & see if they’ll put it on your gas card instead 

[Deleted User]

Danny_V said:

Mobtr said:

Danny_V said:

Hello

I live in a small studio flat and I have gas central heating, and gas boiler heats my water, and gas hobs on my cooker.
I noticed the £400 energy grant to help is in the form of electricity vouchers, and obviously I am going to struggle more to pay for my gas

I cannot get into debt because I am prepay, so I cannot apply for the British Gas Fund as far as I'm aware
I'm in receipt of ESA for health reasons and PIP.

Is there any help for me and other people like me? 

thanks for any replies and help

Daniel

You’ll be getting vouchers for your electricity. I don’t know for certain but you might be able to use them for your gas instead.  Otherwise put the money you would have put on your electricity onto your gas. 

It seems incredible that they wouldn't have considered people have gas fired central heating, and that is what they'll be using to keep warm. My electric usage is already very low so I'm not sure the money I usually spend on electric would be equal to having to keep the heating on, run my taps, cook my food etc. 

It's nothing to do with whether the usual spend on one fuel is more or less than on the other.  It's a fixed £400.  Spend that £400 wherever you want, it's still the same amount.

Danny_V

Mobtr said:

Danny_V said:

Mobtr said:

Danny_V said:

Hello

I live in a small studio flat and I have gas central heating, and gas boiler heats my water, and gas hobs on my cooker.
I noticed the £400 energy grant to help is in the form of electricity vouchers, and obviously I am going to struggle more to pay for my gas

I cannot get into debt because I am prepay, so I cannot apply for the British Gas Fund as far as I'm aware
I'm in receipt of ESA for health reasons and PIP.

Is there any help for me and other people like me? 

thanks for any replies and help

Daniel

You’ll be getting vouchers for your electricity. I don’t know for certain but you might be able to use them for your gas instead.  Otherwise put the money you would have put on your electricity onto your gas. 

It seems incredible that they wouldn't have considered people have gas fired central heating, and that is what they'll be using to keep warm. My electric usage is already very low so I'm not sure the money I usually spend on electric would be equal to having to keep the heating on, run my taps, cook my food etc. 

they will have done, however everyone has electricity but not everyone has gas which is why it’s being applied to electricity accounts. You should get your first voucher in the first 2 weeks of October, take it to the Post Office & see if they’ll put it on your gas card instead 

It would have made sense that they let gas users apply for a gas voucher, and electricity users to apply for electricity vouchers

I guess I will have to ask at the Post Office, but I was making the post in case anyone knew of any different help for prepay gas specifically?

BUFF

Danny_V said:

Oh, and forgot to mention, my thermostat even when set to zero, the boiler has kicked in and put the heating on in very cold winters, 

that will be anti-frost protection kicking in. Otherwise you could end up with burst pipes etc.

Danny_V said:

It would have made sense that they let gas users apply for a gas voucher, and electricity users to apply for electricity vouchers

Anybody with mains gas will also have an electrical supply.

[Deleted User]

Danny_V said:

Mobtr said:

Danny_V said:

Mobtr said:

Danny_V said:

Hello

I live in a small studio flat and I have gas central heating, and gas boiler heats my water, and gas hobs on my cooker.
I noticed the £400 energy grant to help is in the form of electricity vouchers, and obviously I am going to struggle more to pay for my gas

I cannot get into debt because I am prepay, so I cannot apply for the British Gas Fund as far as I'm aware
I'm in receipt of ESA for health reasons and PIP.

Is there any help for me and other people like me? 

thanks for any replies and help

Daniel

You’ll be getting vouchers for your electricity. I don’t know for certain but you might be able to use them for your gas instead.  Otherwise put the money you would have put on your electricity onto your gas. 

It seems incredible that they wouldn't have considered people have gas fired central heating, and that is what they'll be using to keep warm. My electric usage is already very low so I'm not sure the money I usually spend on electric would be equal to having to keep the heating on, run my taps, cook my food etc. 

they will have done, however everyone has electricity but not everyone has gas which is why it’s being applied to electricity accounts. You should get your first voucher in the first 2 weeks of October, take it to the Post Office & see if they’ll put it on your gas card instead 

It would have made sense that they let gas users apply for a gas voucher, and electricity users to apply for electricity vouchers

I guess I will have to ask at the Post Office, but I was making the post in case anyone knew of any different help for prepay gas specifically?

Or you just put the vouchers on the electricity account, and put the cash that you otherwise would have used for electricity on the gas account instead.

That, and the unit rate cap, is the help that is available for prepay gas customers.

t0rt0ise

Won't you also get other help being on ESA and PIP?

doesntnotcompute

https://www.ovoenergy.com/energy-bills-support-scheme

https://sse.co.uk/help/energy/government-incentives/energy-bills-support-scheme

Both of these suppliers (I think they're part of the same group?) state you can use electricity vouchers for prepayment gas meters.

The vouchers are actually a transaction for cash that is then added to your prepayment key in the normal way. When you use them at a post office you will notice the "cashier" (if that's the right word) count out the voucher amount in cash and then add it to your key just as if you'd handed the money to them yourself.

Looking at my receipts for my electricity prepayment meter there doesn't appear to be anything that even identifies it as an electricity transaction. I'm not sure if it's obvious or even visible to the person crediting your key whether it's a gas or electricity key - and in my experience I don't think they really care.

I'm certain you will be able to use the vouchers for either electricity or gas prepayment meters. If you have a regular electricity account then you will be able to get the money transferred back to your bank account if it isn't done so automatically.