Alternative Fuel Payment

Reeny_2

Both mine and my daughters electricity supplier is British Gas and up to yesterday Neither of us had  received the £200 Alternative Fuel payment. I called the Minister of Energy about this only to be told that they were receiving lots of complaints about people who were not receiving it. I then contacted British Gas who told me that because I didn’t have a gas account with them then the £200 was paid into my electric account and was being used to pay my electric. I told them I am not likely to have a gas account as I don’t have access to town gas and that the £200 is to pay for my heating oil and not my electric. I do not owe any money on my electric but they were just going to keep using my £200 to pay for it until it had run out. I told them they should not do this as they have my bank details to take my electricity payments on a monthly basis by direct debit. They then agreed to pay the £200 in to my account within 5 days. I told my daughter to call them because they already owed her about £400 as her account was in credit yet they were still keeping her £200. After her calling them they agreed to pay her the £200 and also reduced her monthly payment due to her credit mounting up.  I run an oil syndicate in my village voluntarily with 140 homes on it and I sent an email out to all my members asking them to check if they had received their £200. There were quite a few members who hadn’t and I advised them to call their supplier. The majority of these members were with British Gas but some were with Octupus. It would appear that these two companies are the main offenders. Since advising these members to call their suppliers they have told me that they are now receiving their £200 within 5 days. I would advise anyone who hadn’t received their £200 to contact their electricity supplier for it and if they refuse then contact your local MP. I do know that some of my members are with EDF and one of them chased for the £200 and is now receiving it.

timothysavill

I have not received the£200 AFP and I did indeed contact  OVO energy who are my electricity supplier and they stated that I was not  on a list supplied to them by the BEIS.  I live in a village that does not have a gas supply and have been with OVO for several years and pay my electricity bills by direct debit so I believe that I fulfil the criteria that qualifies me for the payment. OVO suggested that I should apply to the AFP Alternative fund on the Govy .uk website which according to the Citizens Advice Bureau will be opened on the 6th March

Spoonie_Turtle

timothysavill said:

I have not received the£200 AFP and I did indeed contact  OVO energy who are my electricity supplier and they stated that I was not  on a list supplied to them by the BEIS.  I live in a village that does not have a gas supply and have been with OVO for several years and pay my electricity bills by direct debit so I believe that I fulfil the criteria that qualifies me for the payment. OVO suggested that I should apply to the AFP Alternative fund on the Govy .uk website which according to the Citizens Advice Bureau will be opened on the 6th March

That's how it's supposed to happen.  The criteria for receiving the £200 automatically mean that not everyone who qualifies for the payment will get it automatically - people who live in off-gas areas where the predominant form of heating is electric, and people who live in areas with gas but use alternative fuels for their main heating will have to apply.

The reporting around this seems to have been very shoddy, focusing on the automatic payments only and basically making people worry they've missed out if they didn't get it automatically.

Geminy

I have oil boiler for my heating and hot water, been solid fuel or oil since house was built in 1960, I have been here since early 80's. I do have mains gas but always have used oil. I assumed I would qualify for the AFP (struggled to pay the bill for oil for winter use, so hoped for this help). I am with EonNext but they have no idea if I will get the payment. Can not apply manually for this as site says will be available 'early March' but it is already March and no link yet! So frustrating not being able to get answers. I did not fill my tank at Christmas as needed to wait for AFP that I expected,  now I will soon need more oil and still no idea if or when I might get help.

Spoonie_Turtle

Geminy said:

I have oil boiler for my heating and hot water, been solid fuel or oil since house was built in 1960, I have been here since early 80's. I do have mains gas but always have used oil. I assumed I would qualify for the AFP (struggled to pay the bill for oil for winter use, so hoped for this help). I am with EonNext but they have no idea if I will get the payment. Can not apply manually for this as site says will be available 'early March' but it is already March and no link yet! So frustrating not being able to get answers. I did not fill my tank at Christmas as needed to wait for AFP that I expected,  now I will soon need more oil and still no idea if or when I might get help.

That's a tricky one, do you use the alternative fuel as your only source of heating or as well as gas?  As far as I know there's not yet guidance available on who qualifies via the application, although whether there will be any publicly available I don't know.

[Being on the mains gas network means your postcode would have been excluded at the first step for the automatic payments.]

The 6th March has been quoted by some, not sure what the source was.

RG2015

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Geminy said:

I have oil boiler for my heating and hot water, been solid fuel or oil since house was built in 1960, I have been here since early 80's. I do have mains gas but always have used oil. I assumed I would qualify for the AFP (struggled to pay the bill for oil for winter use, so hoped for this help). I am with EonNext but they have no idea if I will get the payment. Can not apply manually for this as site says will be available 'early March' but it is already March and no link yet! So frustrating not being able to get answers. I did not fill my tank at Christmas as needed to wait for AFP that I expected,  now I will soon need more oil and still no idea if or when I might get help.

That's a tricky one, do you use the alternative fuel as your only source of heating or as well as gas?  As far as I know there's not yet guidance available on who qualifies via the application, although whether there will be any publicly available I don't know.

[Being on the mains gas network means your postcode would have been excluded at the first step for the automatic payments.]

The 6th March has been quoted by some, not sure what the source was.

This is on the Citizens Advice website. The link is at the foot of this post.

If you don’t have a contract with an electricity supplier

You’ll need to apply for the payment. You’ll be able to apply on the government website from 6 March.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/get-help-paying-your-bills/help-with-bills-if-you-use-alternative-fuels/#:~:text=This is called the 'Alternative,will send you a voucher.

aingee

Hi all,
we are with Scottish Power, very difficult to get in contact with anyone apart from a BOT. We haven't received the £200.  We live in an village of approx 3000 residents,  where there isn't any gas.  Some neighbours have had their refund already. I tried to go down the route as suggested by Martin Lewis which said go through The Gov website and through the bit for travellers/off grid etc.  We did that and it brings you to the question: have you had the repayments of £67 each month from November through to April 2023, well yes we have, and if you answer YES then it tells you that you aren't eligible.  It's infuriating. We pay for oil as our main fuel for heating and hot water, why haven't we had the payment from Scottish Power? Can you help or offer advice.

dunstonh

 We did that and it brings you to the question: have you had the repayments of £67 each month from November through to April 2023, well yes we have, and if you answer YES then it tells you that you aren't eligible

That is not correct.  You can get both and most have.  

The AFP uses a range of filters.  If you do not get payment after the filtering, then you need to apply manually, as it says on the government website.

Sw1t10

Another issue - we are on oil however the surrounding houses are on Gas mains, therefore we have not been identified as being on oil !
we bought oil on 18.08.22 the .Gov portal for AFP states you need to have spent more than £200 since Sept 22 !! has anyone else had this issue does this mean the application will automatically be declined due to the date ? 
Any help advice greatly appreciated !!

kar999

Sw1t10 said:

Another issue - we are on oil however the surrounding houses are on Gas mains, therefore we have not been identified as being on oil !
we bought oil on 18.08.22 the .Gov portal for AFP states you need to have spent more than £200 since Sept 22 !! has anyone else had this issue does this mean the application will automatically be declined due to the date ? 
Any help advice greatly appreciated !!

There are loads of people in similar situations as many top up in bulk in the summer. Also those that received the Allowance automatically didn't need proof. See this main thread ...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6409911/mse-news-200-alternative-fuel-payment-to-be-paid-in-the-new-year#latest

It's a complete shambles.

I've submitted my last top up invoice pre Sep22 and I'll see what happens...