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

NeilJ66

Hi all,
There's too many AFP threads going on   , I've posted this already on one of the others but I see people on this one are asking about Shell. I'm with Shell Energy for my electricity and an LPG user. The £200 AFP came through to my bank account today although there is no record of it anywhere in my Shell Energy online account.

flossy_splodge

I'm so thankful for those that have bothered to contribute to this thread.

I am with BG and have also had the notification of this money being credited to my BG account so I am now concerned as to whether this is going to turn into yet another battle.  I've just had an oil delivery and need this payment to settle my oil bill.

Whose stupid idea was it to pay it to electricity providers rather than to the end user?

flossy_splodge

Thanks to earlier posts on here I have now found the up to date info from BG. Here it is:

Alternative fuel payment

The vast majority of households that use alternative fuels for heating (such as biomass, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or heating oil) will receive a single £200 payment.

There’s no need to get in touch to apply. The Government tells us if you qualify, and we’ll send you a voucher letter in the post which should be with you by end of February.

You can then redeem your voucher at the Post Office – instructions on how to do this will be included in the letter. You’ll need to redeem your voucher at a Post Office no later than three months from the date of the letter, otherwise it’ll expire. You can find your local Post Office at https://www.postoffice.co.uk/branch-finder

The voucher is sent as a barcode on the letter you’ll receive from us:

The voucher amount is for £200 and can be redeemed for cash. If you use it to top up your meter, please bear in mind your electricity meter can only hold up to £255.99 of credit at any time.

ymakesmile

Just checked my bank and had the £200 from Shell today. No communication from them though and nothing showing on my She'll account about it. 

propertyrental

ymakesmile said:

Just checked my bank and had the £200 from Shell today. No communication from them though and nothing showing on my She'll account about it. 

Nothing received yet.

Spoke to Shell who say some customers have been paid but they (customer services) received an email today advising there were delays in some payments.

"Should be in your bank account by the end of the week".

sabid

Although I use oil for heating I have not received any notification of this payment. When I enquire with my electric provider they said that the gov underestimated the number of claimants and referred me to the following Gov.uk AFP portal to claim. However portal is not currently available but states it will be in early March???, whenever that is?

vikwikx

I’ve done exactly the same today it is so frustrating 🫤

wwally

sabid said:

Although I use oil for heating I have not received any notification of this payment. When I enquire with my electric provider they said that the gov underestimated the number of claimants and referred me to the following Gov.uk AFP portal to claim. However portal is not currently available but states it will be in early March???, whenever that is?

When the fund for missed AFP payments was described last week it said 'by March 6th'. Prior to that it said 'later in February'.

This is still on the gov.uk website:

"Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps will shortly write to local authorities, thanking them for getting the scheme over the line after working hand in hand with his department over the last three months, and urging them to process applications as quickly as possible so households aren’t left waiting weeks after applying.

He’ll also say there must be no further delays to rolling out the Alternative Fuel Payment Alternative Fund – a similar scheme for households who use alternative fuels as their main source of heating, providing £200 towards energy costs, adding it will be live by 6th March." (27th Feb 2023)

kar999

wwally said:

sabid said:

Although I use oil for heating I have not received any notification of this payment. When I enquire with my electric provider they said that the gov underestimated the number of claimants and referred me to the following Gov.uk AFP portal to claim. However portal is not currently available but states it will be in early March???, whenever that is?

When the fund for missed AFP payments was described last week it said 'by March 6th'. Prior to that it said 'later in February'.

This is still on the gov.uk website:

"Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps will shortly write to local authorities, thanking them for getting the scheme over the line after working hand in hand with his department over the last three months, and urging them to process applications as quickly as possible so households aren’t left waiting weeks after applying.

He’ll also say there must be no further delays to rolling out the Alternative Fuel Payment Alternative Fund – a similar scheme for households who use alternative fuels as their main source of heating, providing £200 towards energy costs, adding it will be live by 6th March." (27th Feb 2023)

The spreadsheet that I believe energy companies have used is clearly full of holes, notably where only part of a post code is off grid.
In my postcode, those properties in the village have gas but there's no gas as the postcode extends out of the village.

Spoonie_Turtle

kar999 said:

wwally said:

sabid said:

Although I use oil for heating I have not received any notification of this payment. When I enquire with my electric provider they said that the gov underestimated the number of claimants and referred me to the following Gov.uk AFP portal to claim. However portal is not currently available but states it will be in early March???, whenever that is?

When the fund for missed AFP payments was described last week it said 'by March 6th'. Prior to that it said 'later in February'.

This is still on the gov.uk website:

"Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps will shortly write to local authorities, thanking them for getting the scheme over the line after working hand in hand with his department over the last three months, and urging them to process applications as quickly as possible so households aren’t left waiting weeks after applying.

He’ll also say there must be no further delays to rolling out the Alternative Fuel Payment Alternative Fund – a similar scheme for households who use alternative fuels as their main source of heating, providing £200 towards energy costs, adding it will be live by 6th March." (27th Feb 2023)

The spreadsheet that I believe energy companies have used is clearly full of holes, notably where only part of a post code is off grid.
In my postcode, those properties in the village have gas but there's no gas as the postcode extends out of the village.

The starting point for the government's list was the XoServe database of postcodes off the main gas grid.  So postcodes that are partially served by gas are not on that list. 

It was known from the start that the automatic payments would not cover everyone which is why there's a manual application process for everyone who didn't get an automatic payment.  (Although the media seem to have done a terrible job just reporting on automatic payments leading people to think manual applications will be a rarity, when actually lots of people will need to do it )