Government assistance

HobbesGhirl

I had a long standing issue with Scottish Power that resulted in them failing to set up my tariff and DD for nearly 2 years. This went to the Ombudsman. I won my case and it was eventually reserved, but I was left with an outstanding debt to the company. I have a repayment plan of £31 a month. Can Scottish power use the £400 government assistance money towards this debt instead of refunding it to me? Thanks  

HobbesGhirl

*resolved not reserved 

marcia_

 HobbesGhirl said:

I had a long standing issue with Scottish Power that resulted in them failing to set up my tariff and DD for nearly 2 years. This went to the Ombudsman. I won my case and it was eventually reserved, but I was left with an outstanding debt to the company. I have a repayment plan of £31 a month. Can Scottish power use the £400 government assistance money towards this debt instead of refunding it to me? Thanks  

 Quite probably other suppliers are. 

 But the £400 is to come off your energy bill not be given to you to spend on what you want. 

 So you will still benefit as your debt will be reduced

[Deleted User]

This question is addressed in the guidance given to energy suppliers. Look at page 27 of this link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1105770/energy-bills-support-scheme-guidance-electricity-suppliers.pdf#page27

MWT

HobbesGhirl said:

Can Scottish power use the £400 government assistance money towards this debt instead of refunding it to me? Thanks  

The way the guidance is written, if your combined monthly DD for your debt repayment and your current use is above £66, then they must either reduce those DD payments by a total of £66 or refund the £66 to you.

If your combined DD payments for both debt repayment and current use is below £66, they must reduce the DD to zero or refund the amount paid by DD each month in full, but they may then apply the difference between those payments and the £66 EBSS payment to your debt balance.

funny.money

marcia_ said:

 HobbesGhirl said:

I had a long standing issue with Scottish Power that resulted in them failing to set up my tariff and DD for nearly 2 years. This went to the Ombudsman. I won my case and it was eventually reserved, but I was left with an outstanding debt to the company. I have a repayment plan of £31 a month. Can Scottish power use the £400 government assistance money towards this debt instead of refunding it to me? Thanks  

 Quite probably other suppliers are. 

 But the £400 is to come off your energy bill not be given to you to spend on what you want. 

 So you will still benefit as your debt will be reduced

There must be 1000s who are receiving this  money into their bank accounts and spending it on exactly what they want,  and maybe getting into debt/ more debt by it not going into their energy accounts. 

But as someone pointed out on another thread,  many will need the money for alternative forms of energy,  so there's no easy answer. 

[Deleted User]

funny.money said:

marcia_ said:

 HobbesGhirl said:

I had a long standing issue with Scottish Power that resulted in them failing to set up my tariff and DD for nearly 2 years. This went to the Ombudsman. I won my case and it was eventually reserved, but I was left with an outstanding debt to the company. I have a repayment plan of £31 a month. Can Scottish power use the £400 government assistance money towards this debt instead of refunding it to me? Thanks  

 Quite probably other suppliers are. 

 But the £400 is to come off your energy bill not be given to you to spend on what you want. 

 So you will still benefit as your debt will be reduced

There must be 1000s who are receiving this  money into their bank accounts and spending it on exactly what they want,  and maybe getting into debt/ more debt by it not going into their energy accounts. 

But as someone pointed out on another thread,  many will need the money for alternative forms of energy,  so there's no easy answer. 

Perhaps some of the blame sits with those commentators who played the ‘eat or heat’ card. We also have a Government that believes that we should be left to make our own decisions on how we spend our own money. I doubt that any thought has been given to the unintended consequences of people spending the £400 on a jolly good Christmas.