MSE News: £200 Alternative Fuel Payment to be paid 'in the New Year'

ccluedo

Connie said:

Thanks for that assurance, dealyboy  -  though it still feels wrong!

I also feel a tad bad as I'm on oil and the price v gas hasn't been too far asunder and is now arguably much better. However if I was All electric I don't think I'd be having too many qualms really, more so with another hike looming in April!
As said above, technically u are entitled to it and it's not your fault how the Govt decided to set the criteria. 

Spoonie_Turtle

ccluedo said:

Connie said:

Thanks for that assurance, dealyboy  -  though it still feels wrong!

I also feel a tad bad as I'm on oil and the price v gas hasn't been too far asunder and is now arguably much better. However if I was All electric I don't think I'd be having too many qualms really, more so with another hike looming in April!
As said above, technically u are entitled to it and it's not your fault how the Govt decided to set the criteria. 

Exactly this.

Eligibility has been determined on an area basis not household basis - otherwise it would have taken months and months more, and it's taken long enough already!

I understand the argument of oil not necessarily being more expensive than gas per kWh but the point was the higher price increases were a shock for many users, and budgeting to pay your normal amount or a bit extra doesn't work when prices double or triple.  So it was to lessen the blow, a bit.

We are also unintended beneficiaries, and with a heat pump that seems to run at about 250% efficiency overall, heating/hot water with electric is still more expensive than mains gas.  (The heat pump was not our choice, it was the Housing Association.)  So I don't feel too bad about benefiting from this.  My only concern with it is that undoubtedly some other all-electric households *need* it more than we do, but won't all get it.

smallblueplanet

Tahlullah.H said:

According to British Gas, they will receive the payment from the Government, which will be credited to your account, very much like the current payment of £67.  It is then transferred to your bank account, but they believe it can take up to 10 days at most.  So, if paid today, it should be in your bank account by the 1 March, assuming you pay by DD.

Did you get this from the horses mouth so to speak? When I contacted them by chat (I'm with BG Evolve as was) a few days ago they seemed to know very little.

Spoonie_Turtle

smallblueplanet said:

Tahlullah.H said:

According to British Gas, they will receive the payment from the Government, which will be credited to your account, very much like the current payment of £67.  It is then transferred to your bank account, but they believe it can take up to 10 days at most.  So, if paid today, it should be in your bank account by the 1 March, assuming you pay by DD.

Did you get this from the horses mouth so to speak? When I contacted them by chat (I'm with BG Evolve as was) a few days ago they seemed to know very little.

The customer service agents probably know less about it than the team actually dealing with it, to be fair.

Tahlullah.H

Yes, I got it from the horses mouth.  I also got an apology for having to contact them 3 times before getting a coherent answer.

Mstty

Spoonie_Turtle said:

I found this https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/articles/census2021howhomesareheatedinyourarea/2023-01-05
There's a tool to check which type of heating predominates in your area (England and Wales only, unfortunately).  It will be interesting to see if the results correlate with who gets the payment automatically - in my area it says only 4.8% use electricity for their central heating, so I'm hoping we might be some of the accidental benefactors.

That explains why we got the payment only 1.9% of households have gas in our postcode👍

kassy64

Anyone with British Gas (for electric) actually had any £200 additional payment yet. Seen lots of comments that payments are filtering through from other companies but nothing seen from BG yet.
Thanks

ccluedo

kassy64 said:

Anyone with British Gas (for electric) actually had any £200 additional payment yet. Seen lots of comments that payments are filtering through from other companies but nothing seen from BG yet.
Thanks

Nothing here yet but usual BG customer service in my experience! Wouldn't surprise me if they were hanging onto every penny until the last possible moment! 

Jessmeeks

Along with a few other recent posters, we received a payment of £200 automatically from BULB. I would hope other relevant users should receive soon. This came as a credit to our slightly in debit account. We live on the side of a street with no gas connections. Our elec usage is astronomical as we have no CH boiler, only a log burner in one room and storage rads in others and an immersion. All this in a very drafty 1700's cottage. Oh well, Every little helps, to coin a phrase.

maisie_cat

ccluedo said:

kassy64 said:

Anyone with British Gas (for electric) actually had any £200 additional payment yet. Seen lots of comments that payments are filtering through from other companies but nothing seen from BG yet.
Thanks

Nothing here yet but usual BG customer service in my experience! Wouldn't surprise me if they were hanging onto every penny until the last possible moment! 

I said the same to hubby yesterday, they'll leave it until the last possible minute