Energy Bills Support Scheme vouchers announced

The Energy Bills Support Scheme was announced in May 2022 and gave all households in Great Britain a £400 discount on their energy bills¹. The discount was applied over a six-month period, from 1 October 2022 to the end of March 2023, in six instalments: £66 in October and November 2022, then £67 a month from December 2022 to March 2023¹.

The scheme was an expansion of earlier plans. Citizens Advice, responding to the government consultation on 31 May 2022, noted that the support had been increased from £200 to £400 and that the requirement to repay it in later years had been removed³. The International Energy Agency describes the change as a doubling of the support allocated through the scheme, as part of the May 2022 cost of living support package⁴. The £400 was part of a wider £15 billion package of energy bill support announced in May 2022⁵.

Most households received the discount automatically through their supplier. Around two million households with traditional, non-smart prepayment meters received vouchers instead, which had to be redeemed³. Suppliers confirmed that vouchers had been sent to all two million customers with traditional prepayment meters². The West Midlands Combined Authority said in February 2023 that more than 150,000 vouchers in its region were still unclaimed, and that 76 per cent of all vouchers issued had been redeemed as of the end of January 2023¹.

"The vouchers were first announced back in May last year and apply to all households in Great Britain."

The scheme ran alongside the Energy Price Guarantee, which the government said would bring a typical household's energy bill in Great Britain down to the equivalent of around £2,500 a year for the six months from 1 October 2022 to the end of March 2023, saving a typical household £900 over the winter of 2022-23². The price cap for a typical customer paying by direct debit had risen to £3,549 a year in October 2022, from £1,971 in April 2022⁷.

Source: West Midlands Combined Authority¹

Why it matters for households

The £400 was a flat discount applied to every household in Great Britain regardless of income, energy use or property type, so it reduced the unit cost of a winter's energy rather than changing how much energy a home needed. For a household on a traditional prepayment meter, the support arrived as a voucher to be redeemed rather than as an automatic credit, which meant the money was only received if the voucher was claimed¹. Citizens Advice warned before the scheme launched that these households tend to have low engagement with their supplier and that vouchers could be lost or stolen, and that people whose landlord pays the energy bill would not have guaranteed access to the support³. It also noted that households with energy debts would have the rebate applied to what they owed, which was on average much larger than the rebate, so they might not feel any day-to-day reduction in their costs³.

The discount was temporary and did not change a home's underlying running costs. Analysis published by the Resolution Foundation in August 2022 found that families in energy-inefficient homes would face monthly gas bills £231 higher than those in equivalent homes already meeting the government's EPC C efficiency target, a penalty of £849 over the 2022-23 winter⁶. The National Energy Action figures published in July 2022, which took the £400 rebate into account, predicted 8.2 million UK households would be in fuel poverty from October 2022, one in three, against 4.5 million a year earlier⁸. Fuel poverty is defined as homes spending more than 10 per cent of total income on energy⁸. Schemes that address the fabric of a home rather than the bill are covered in the guide to home energy grants and schemes, including ECO4 and the Great British Insulation Scheme.

What happens next

The West Midlands Combined Authority urged households that had not claimed to check online or contact their provider before the 31 March 2023 deadline¹. It said suppliers have a responsibility to inform customers how to access the support and must make several attempts to contact people who have not redeemed their vouchers¹. The Committee of Public Accounts reported in November 2022 that the Department was unable to explain how it would ensure that all customers who use prepayment meters or do not pay their bill directly, such as residents of park homes, would receive their £400 of support⁷. The government's response, published in January 2023, agreed with the Committee's recommendation that the Department and Ofgem should urgently review support for vulnerable households and assess where administrative issues might prevent support being provided in a timely manner².

Sources8 cited

1. West Midlands residents urged not to miss out on energy bill support, wmca.org.uk
2. CP 781 – Treasury Minutes Government Response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-third to the Twenty-sixth reports from Session 2022-23 – January 2023, committees.parliament.uk
3. Citizens Advice response to BEIS consultation on the Energy Bills Support Scheme - Citizens Advice, citizensadvice.org.uk
4. Increase in Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) – Policies - IEA, iea.org
5. Energy prices and fuel poverty set to soar | CIPHE, ciphe.org.uk
6. Cutting back to keep warm • Resolution Foundation, resolutionfoundation.org
7. Regulation of energy suppliers - Committee of Public Accounts, publications.parliament.uk
8. 8.2 million households could be in fuel poverty from October | NEA, nea.org.uk