Cost of living payment 2023: who is eligible for £400 energy bill support - will it be paid in January?

The support comes on top of the government’s Energy Price Guarantee
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Almost one million households are set to receive help with their energy bills next year as the government confirms a new £400 support payment.

The money will be issued to 900,000 households in Great Britain that slipped through the cracks of previous cost of living support from the government because they do not have a direct relationship with an energy supplier.

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It comes on top of the Energy Price Guarantee, announced earlier this year under Liz Truss’s government, which caps the price a household pays for electricity at 34p per unit and 10.3p for a unit of gas.

For a household using an average amount of energy, this means an annual bill will cost around £2,500, but of course this is relative to how much energy is used.

The payment will be issued to 900,000 households in Great Britain (Photo: Adobe)The payment will be issued to 900,000 households in Great Britain (Photo: Adobe)
The payment will be issued to 900,000 households in Great Britain (Photo: Adobe)

Who is eligible for the £400 payment?

Care home residents, people who live on houseboats or in park homes, and those who live off-grid will be eligible to get the £400 energy bill support payment. This will match what is currently being paid out to millions of households with a more traditional energy set-up.

The support will also allow Travellers access to the cash for the first time, with those who will benefit also including people in sheltered accommodation, those who pay through a landlord on a commercial supply deal, homes on a heat network and farmhouses that are only used for domestic purposes.

When and how will the money be paid?

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The support will start to roll out early next year, with online applications set to open in January. There will also be a helpline for those without internet access.

Payments of the £400 to households without a direct relationship with a supplier will be made through local authorities across Great Britain.

The government also said it would pay £200 to British households which use alternative fuels such as heating oil or wood pellets this winter, and confirmed that households in Northern Ireland will receive a single £600 payment to help with their energy bills, starting in January.

Business and Energy Secretary Grant Shapps said: “Putin’s illegal war has caused global energy prices to soar, but we are continuing to work hard and urgently to get help to households across the UK, and this update provides people with more certainty on when and how we will deliver help with fuel bills.”

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He added: “We’re already limiting the amount suppliers can charge consumers for their energy through the Energy Price Guarantee, which will continue to help consumers through to March 2024. We’ve all seen and felt the temperature dropping recently, so today’s updates will help millions worry less about their energy and heating bills this winter.”

Minister for energy and climate Graham Stuart said: “Getting this support for households’ bills out across the country will save hundreds of pounds for millions of people during the coldest months of the year.

“This has been a top priority and joint effort, with close work between officials and electricity suppliers in Northern Ireland, as well as with local authorities in Great Britain who will help get support to over 900,000 households who don’t have the direct relationship with energy suppliers that the vast majority of households do.”

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