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

mohecan

Oil B amazed if nobody else has discovered this. My electricity supplier ( the one who takes the money) not the one who makes the the power. Tells me they do not have anything to do with the subsidy for those who use heating oil, there are no gas pipes in my part of the countryside, they simply apply any subsidy they receive for this purpose, to our accounts. Therfore, in order to confirm my eligibility to said subsidy I should go to the gov.uk site and fill out the appropriate form.
Sound's logical, doesnt it and after all, don't the tax payers want their hard earned money to go to those who are eligible and not just anybody who fancies an extra £200 ? As a tax payer, i certainly do. The problem is, the Gov.uk web site, asks for a receipt for oil payment dated September 2022 or later. My receipt is not only barely readable having been printed at the roadside on a printer in the truck, which clearly required a new ribbon (lol) and makes copying or taking a picture that is then readable, nigh impossible.
If I were able to produce a readable copy. As im sure many who have used oil for a while do. I buy my oil when possible at a lower price, in the summer months, taking enough to last me through the winter. Meaning my bill is dated August 2022 thus making it unacceptable, according to the gov.uk website. 

dunstonh

My electricity supplier ( the one who takes the money) not the one who makes the the power. Tells me they do not have anything to do with the subsidy for those who use heating oil, there are no gas pipes in my part of the countryside, they simply apply any subsidy they receive for this purpose, to our accounts. Therfore, in order to confirm my eligibility to said subsidy I should go to the gov.uk site and fill out the appropriate form.

That is correct and the bit that is well documented.

I buy my oil when possible at a lower price, in the summer months, 

That old wives tales again!

Meaning my bill is dated August 2022 thus making it unacceptable, according to the gov.uk website. 

Fill up before 31st May 2023 and you can submit that receipt.

kar999

dunstonh said:

Fill up before 31st May 2023 and you can submit that receipt.

We all hope that is acceptable... but who knows. 

kar999

mohecan said:

Oil B amazed if nobody else has discovered this. My electricity supplier ( the one who takes the money) not the one who makes the the power. Tells me they do not have anything to do with the subsidy for those who use heating oil, there are no gas pipes in my part of the countryside, they simply apply any subsidy they receive for this purpose, to our accounts. Therfore, in order to confirm my eligibility to said subsidy I should go to the gov.uk site and fill out the appropriate form.
Sound's logical, doesnt it and after all, don't the tax payers want their hard earned money to go to those who are eligible and not just anybody who fancies an extra £200 ? As a tax payer, i certainly do. The problem is, the Gov.uk web site, asks for a receipt for oil payment dated September 2022 or later. My receipt is not only barely readable having been printed at the roadside on a printer in the truck, which clearly required a new ribbon (lol) and makes copying or taking a picture that is then readable, nigh impossible.
If I were able to produce a readable copy. As im sure many who have used oil for a while do. I buy my oil when possible at a lower price, in the summer months, taking enough to last me through the winter. Meaning my bill is dated August 2022 thus making it unacceptable, according to the gov.uk website. 

You are one of many who, in preparation for winter, filled up before September. This has been brought to the attention of the relevant Dept/Government and hopefully common sense will prevail. I emailed my MP.

Buying oil in advance is not really that different from the energy companies having to buy forward at the pre-winter Russia/Ukraine war  high wholesale prices, which got us to where we are.

The September 22 receipt criteria is ill thought out utter nonsense. As noted by @dunstonh hopefully buying between now and end May, with a receipt, might be a way around this as they haven't stated a receipt end date.......as yet, just an application deadline.

ccluedo

Crazy situation I had with BG - I was already quite a bit in credit so called to ask for the £200 to be sent to my bank. Had to argue the case for quite some time on the phone as they said they can't do that.
I assured them that as purely the conduit for the govt money, it wasn't theirs to keep, more so as I was already in high credit.

After about 15mins debating on phone I asked to have it escalated. 
Off she went and a few minutes later returned to say that she still couldn't return the £200, BUT she could return the full credit balance and then I would have to increase my DD from it's current low £10 pm. 

A week+ later it hadn't landed in bank and BG balance was still at same level. 

Another not quite so long call promised it again and it landed today. 

U really couldn't make it up, u can't have £200 but u can have almost 3 times as much! 

Apodemus

ccluedo said:

U really couldn't make it up, u can't have £200 but u can have almost 3 times as much! 

No, I can actually see the BG logic there.  They are happy with a low DD as long as there is a high credit balance.  If you reduce the credit balance, they want the DD back to their long-term requirement.  Makes sense to me! 

ccluedo

Apodemus said:

ccluedo said:

U really couldn't make it up, u can't have £200 but u can have almost 3 times as much! 

No, I can actually see the BG logic there.  They are happy with a low DD as long as there is a high credit balance.  If you reduce the credit balance, they want the DD back to their long-term requirement.  Makes sense to me! 

Not to me!
I only had to increase if I got full credit back, but obviously would have been no need if they just gave me the £200 and left the still relatively high credit balance. 

Also, the credit balance after the £200 and allowing for this months £66 govt pay in was equal to around 10monrhs bills not incl the £10pm DD still going in.
I've now got the full balance back which I never wanted in the first place and my DD is still @£10 - no further request to increase it from BG.
I'll obviously increase it myself in April when £66 money has stopped. 

Subzero2698

I've just been looking through things and have seen this on the MSE News section from 9 March 2023. It appears to confirm that you can buy oil now and still claim for it. And as oil price just took an absolute pummelling today, it might be best to wait a week or two and get some.

"Energy secretary tweaks application requirements after appearing on Martin's show

Many have reported issues regarding the number of receipts you can upload as part of your application, or what you can do if you don't have a proof of purchase. For example, houseboat dwellers will buy small amounts of heating fuel on a more regular basis, as they've nowhere to store large volumes of fuel. Therefore they will likely need to submit more than two receipts to prove £200 has been spent. Others have told us they buy fuel as part of a weekly grocery shop and don't keep the receipts. Similarly, we've heard of those who bulk buy fuel in advance for the year and don't have a proof of purchase since September 2022.

Energy secretary, Grant Shapps appeared on The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on 7 March, saying he will look into the issues regarding receipts. On Wednesday 8 March, the energy secretary announced the number of receipts you can submit has increased from two to 10. However, the Government has confirmed that they will no change to allow receipts dated before September 2022. The Government has told us that those who purchased alternative fuel before September 2022, have adequate time to buy more and obtain proof of purchase to be able to apply before the scheme closes on 31 May 2023.

We'll update this story if anything changes."

RG2015

I have just received an email from the following address.

Alternative Fuels Payment (alternative.fuels.payment@notifications.service.gov.uk).

It reads as follows.

Dear RG2015,

Reference: X-XX-XXXXXXXX

Your application for the Alternative Fuels Payment has been successful.

A one-off payment of £200 will be made to your bank account using the details you provided. This payment will come from your local council.

It may take up to 5 days for you to receive the payment.

Future assurance checks will take place to ensure that the payment has been correctly awarded.

Alternative Fuels Payment team – BEIS

kar999

RG2015 said:

I have just received an email from the following address.

Alternative Fuels Payment (alternative.fuels.payment@notifications.service.gov.uk).

It reads as follows.

Dear RG2015,

Reference: X-XX-XXXXXXXX

Your application for the Alternative Fuels Payment has been successful.

A one-off payment of £200 will be made to your bank account using the details you provided. This payment will come from your local council.

It may take up to 5 days for you to receive the payment.

Future assurance checks will take place to ensure that the payment has been correctly awarded.

Alternative Fuels Payment team – BEIS

I got the email & the payment today. My receipts were prior to September 22 as well. Common sense prevails!