The British Gas Energy Trust: Grants for Energy Debt

The headline figure for a household in arrears is a write-off of up to £2,000 against a gas or electricity account, and the average grant actually paid to energy debt recipients was £1,228 in 2024/25⁴. For context, the average energy debt owed had risen to £1,835 by the end of 2023, so a grant at the average does not always clear the whole balance⁵.

The Trust is not British Gas. It states plainly that it is an independent charity and cannot respond to complaints regarding gas or electricity accounts held with British Gas⁶. What it does for a household's energy independence is narrow but real: it removes a debt that would otherwise sit on the meter or the account, and it funds free advice that can raise income. What it does not do is change the supply relationship, the tariff or the standing charge. The household remains a grid customer of whichever supplier it already has.

An independent charity, solely funded by British Gas

The Trust describes itself as an independent charity, separate to but solely funded by British Gas¹. That structure matters to anyone weighing up whether to apply. The money comes from a supplier, but the grant rules, the eligibility criteria and the application process sit with the charity, not with the supplier's customer service operation. The Trust states that it cannot respond to complaints regarding gas or electricity accounts held with British Gas⁶, which is the clearest signal that the two organisations are not the same thing.

The funding relationship is long-standing and substantial. British Gas has committed £8 million a year over the next five years to the Trust⁹, and the charity distributed over £14.3 million in grants in 2025². It was formed in 2004, funded solely by, but separate to, British Gas¹⁰, and has been running since then.

The Trust also funds a network rather than only paying grants. It funds over 50 frontline charities delivering money and energy advice across Great Britain¹⁰, and it reports a huge increase in the demand for that advice¹⁰. It funds 32 organisations across Britain to provide free and impartial money and energy advice³, and over 40 money and energy advice projects in community-based charities and social enterprises across Britain¹¹. Comprehensive advice is delivered via 41 core funded projects, including Citizens Advice and independent local charities⁴.

For a household, the practical consequence is that the Trust is a route to two different things: a debt write-off, and free advice from a local organisation that may also check benefit entitlement. The advice side is where income maximisation sits, and the Trust describes it as covering income maximisation and benefits checks, energy efficiency, tariff switching and budgeting¹².

What the Trust funds: debt relief grants, small grants and advice projects

Support is delivered through three programmes: debt relief grants which can help households with up to £2,000 in fuel debt, a small grants programme providing emergency energy vouchers and payments, and Supporting Communities at Risk¹³. A later description sets out four main types of support: energy debt relief grants, emergency energy grants, white goods and a network of over 40 money and energy advice projects¹⁴.

The Trust operates two support funds, the Individuals and Families Fund and the Energy Support Fund¹⁵. These funds can provide up to £2,000 in grants to British Gas and non-British Gas customers with debt on credit or prepayment meter accounts¹⁵.

The White Goods Fund is a separate strand. Applications are accepted through British Gas or charitable organisations funded by the Trust¹, and both British Gas and non-British customers in England and Wales can apply through referral from British Gas or one of the Trust's funded organisations¹. Housing Benefit is a qualifying benefit for that fund¹.

The advice projects are the third leg. The Trust supports organisations across Britain that give free and impartial money and energy advice¹², and it funds many organisations to help people needing free, confidential support services, including Local Advice Centres that check benefits entitlement¹⁶. Its territorial extent is England, Scotland and Wales⁷, and it funds local charities and advice centres across those nations⁷. One example of a funded project is Changeworks, which was awarded £89,982 in funding from the British Gas Energy Trust¹⁷.

Energy debt grants: up to £2,000 for customers of any supplier

The central offer is a write-off of energy debt, and the ceiling is consistent across the Trust's own material. Energy debt write-off grants of up to £2,000 are available for British Gas and non-British Gas customers¹². Energy debt grants are available from the Trust to eligible customers of any energy supplier³. The energy grants programme can help households with up to £2,000 in fuel debt¹⁸.

The routes differ by supplier and by meter type, and this is where a household needs to read carefully rather than assume the maximum applies.

• British Gas customers: the British Gas Energy Support Fund offers grants of up to £2,000 to help clear outstanding energy debt, for customers with credit and pre-payment meter accounts¹⁹. The maximum debt cleared is up to £2,000¹⁶.
• Prepayment meter customers, any supplier: the Individuals and Families Fund can help clear energy debts of up to £1,700 to prepayment meters, regardless of supplier⁷.
• Any supplier, credit or prepayment: the Energy Support Grant is open to prepayment meter and credit account British Gas customers and customers of other suppliers⁶.

The £1,700 figure for prepayment meters sits below the £2,000 headline. The British Gas Energy Trust operates two support funds, the Individuals and Families Fund and the Energy Support Fund¹, and the £1,700 ceiling attaches to the Individuals and Families Fund, which can clear energy debts of up to £1,700 to prepayment meters, regardless of supplier². The £2,000 ceiling attaches to the Energy Support Fund, for British Gas customers with credit and prepayment meter accounts³. A household on a prepayment meter should treat the applicable ceiling as the one attached to the fund it applies to, not the highest figure quoted anywhere.

The grant is not cash. If an application is successful, the energy account is credited with the grant, and the Trust does not award cash payments²⁰. That is the single most important practical point about the scheme: it reduces a balance owed to a supplier, and it does not put money in a household's hand.

Eligibility: who the grants are for

The Trust's own description of who it helps is broad: a registered charity that helps individuals and families in poverty, suffering or other distress who are struggling to pay their gas and or electricity debts²¹. The eligibility rules then narrow that in specific ways depending on the fund.

The most consequential rule is the one that surprises people: British Gas Energy Trust grants are open to anyone, and applicants do not have to be a British Gas customer²². That applies to the energy debt grants. The British Gas Energy Support Fund is different, and requires the applicant to be a British Gas customer¹³.

Other conditions attach to particular funds:

• Debt advice first. Applicants need to get debt advice before applying²³. The Individuals and Families Fund requires that professional money advice has been sought before applying, on the reasoning that advice may uncover other support²⁴.
• No recent grant. For the Individuals and Families Fund, the applicant must not have received a grant from the British Gas Energy Trust within the last 2 years¹³.
• Qualifying benefits. Housing Benefit is a qualifying benefit for the White Goods Fund¹.
• Territorial scope. The Trust funds charities and advice centres across England, Scotland and Wales⁷. Northern Ireland sits outside that structure, and households there are directed to NI Energy Advice for grant information and energy advice, by email or on 0800 1114 455²⁵.

The advice requirement is not a formality. The Trust reports a huge increase in the demand for money and energy advice¹⁰, and the funded advice network exists precisely to handle that demand. For a household, the sequence is advice first, application second.

Does a grant work? What the outcome figures show

The outcome evidence is a mixture of case studies, project funding and aggregate distribution figures, and it is worth reading each for what it actually measures.

At the individual level, the Trust reports a case study in which Ms N was awarded a £995 grant from the Trust, and she can now focus on keeping her family warm and healthy²⁶. That is a single award, below the £2,000 maximum and below the £1,228 average, and it illustrates that the amount granted varies with the debt and the fund.

At the project level, the Trust's funding of advice organisations produces measurable income gains. Scottish Trust funded money and energy projects helped households gain £2m in income in 2022-2023¹⁷. That figure measures money brought in through advice, such as benefit checks, rather than debt written off, and it is the clearest evidence that the advice strand does something the grants alone do not.

At the aggregate level, the Trust distributed over £14.3 million in grants in 2025². Two further figures appear in the Trust's own reporting and are not reconciled with each other: over £16 million in energy debt relief, and an additional £2 million in emergency fuel vouchers¹⁹.

The scale of the problem the grants address is set by independent figures. The average energy debt owed had increased to £1,835 by the end of 2023⁵. Against that, an average grant of £1,228⁴ closes most but not all of a typical arrears balance. A household should expect a grant to reduce a debt substantially rather than necessarily to clear it, and the maximum of up to £2,000 is a ceiling, not an entitlement.

Applying: phone, website and what to have ready

Applications run through the Trust rather than through a supplier's billing team. The published route is to call 01733 421 021 or go to the British Gas Energy Trust website²¹. The British Gas Energy Support Fund is applied for on the British Gas Energy Trust website²³.

The White Goods Fund works differently, by referral. Applications are accepted through British Gas or charitable organisations funded by the Trust¹, and both British Gas and non-British customers in England and Wales apply through referral from British Gas or one of the Trust's funded organisations¹.

Contact numbers are a common source of confusion, because several belong to different organisations:

Applying is free. The Trust describes its support as free²⁹, and the advice delivered through the organisations it funds is free and impartial¹². There is no charge attached to an application, and no cash changes hands in either direction: a successful application credits the energy account²⁰.

Where the Trust sits in the wider help landscape

The Trust is one of several routes for a household in energy arrears, and it is worth being precise about what distinguishes it. It is a named charity with a published maximum, a published average and a published contact number, which makes it more concrete than a general hardship fund. It is also funded by a single supplier while being open to customers of any supplier, which is an unusual arrangement and the reason the independence question comes up so often.

The wider context is that energy debt is a large and growing problem. The average energy debt owed had increased to £1,835 by the end of 2023⁵, and the Trust itself reports a huge increase in demand for money and energy advice¹⁰. The Trust's own policy work looks at what can be done to ensure that low-income households are getting all the support they need before they fall into financial difficulty¹⁰, and at fuel poverty more broadly⁸.

For a household's energy independence, the honest assessment is this. A grant clears a balance, which removes a barrier to switching supplier, to moving from prepayment to credit, or simply to keeping the lights on. That is a real gain in control. But the grant does not change the underlying position: the household still buys gas and electricity from a supplier, still pays a standing charge, and still depends on the grid. The Trust's advice strand is the part that touches independence more durably, because income maximisation and benefit checks change what a household can afford rather than what it owes.

The Trust's own figures show the scale of what it does: over £14.3 million distributed in 2025², and a commitment of £8 million a year over the next five years⁹. For an individual household, the relevant numbers are smaller and more specific: up to £2,000, an average of £1,228, and a prepayment route of up to £1,700.