Energy firm British Gas has introduced a big change to its £1,700 scheme which gives money to customers in need. The supplier’s British Gas Energy Trust offers grants to customers of up to £1,700 a year, money which does not need to be paid back and is open to both British Gas and non-British Gas customers.
The Individual And Families Fund offers money to customers who have between £50 and £1,700 of debt on their British Gas account, and could see those eligible for the scheme getting their debt paid off by the British Gas Energy Trust. In November, the Express reported about the scheme reopening and that it was open to credit and pre-payment meter customers. But the fund’s eligibility rules have been changed so that only pre-payment meter customers will qualify for the help, excluding those who have credit accounts.
The scheme also caveats that those with 10 other suppliers need to go to their own supplier instead. The fund says in its eligibility criteria: “The fund is available to British Gas and non-British Gas customers on pre-payment meter accounts only.
“Pre-payment meter customers must have between £50 and £1,700 of energy debt. You have not received a grant from the British Gas Energy Trust within the last two years. You must be seeking a grant to clear an outstanding debt on a current or open gas, electricity or dual fuel energy account. The account must be in your name and relate to your main residence.
“If your application is successful, your energy account will be credited with the grant. Please note the British Gas Energy Trust does not award cash payments.
“You must be in or facing fuel poverty. You have received help from a money advice agency or used our trusted partner’s self help Benefit Calculator tool within the last six months.
“We want to ensure that grants go to people who cannot access energy debt help from their own provider. Several suppliers have their own support fund which is restricted to their customers only. These are: OVO, Boost, Eon, Eon Next, EDF, Scottish Power, Octopus, Shell Energy, SSE, Utilita and Utility Warehouse. If you are a customer of one of these companies, please apply to them directly.”
However, there is another scheme, the British Gas Energy Support Fund. This is open to British Gas customers only, but it does allow support for credit customers.
This will give up to £2,000 in help to wipe off energy debts, and requires a minimum debt of £50 as a pre-payment customer and £250 as a credit account customer.
British Gas Energy Trust, which is a separate, independent charity, says that the funds are there to try to help people return themselves to a ‘sustainable position’ financially.
It adds: “Please note that the British Gas Energy Trust is interested in funding applications where the applicant can show a sustainable position moving forward. We believe that it is rarely in the person’s best interest to seek a debt write-off, without dealing with the underlying problem of a deficit budget, due to this deficit budgets will only be considered in exceptional circumstances, there is some allowance for marginal exceptions.”
