Call to Reopen Energy Support Scheme

Published: Aug. 12, 2023, 7 a.m.

A \u201cstaggering failure\u201d is how one senior MP has described a government scheme designed to help nearly a million households with their energy bills last winter. Former SNP and now independent MP Angus MacNeil, who's Chair of Parliament\u2019s Energy Security and Net Zero committee, has called on the government to reopen the scheme after a Money Box investigation reported that 750,000 eligible households have not received the \xa3400 to help with their fuel costs and can't now apply for it. The Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding was launched in February to give the \xa3400 to people who live in park homes, on narrow boats, in care homes, and travellers who had not automatically had the \xa3400 which was sent to households with an electricity meter. \nIn response, a government spokesperson said: "We spent billions to protect families when prices rose over winter, covering nearly half a typical household's energy bill \u2013 this includes more than \xa350m supporting 130,000 households without a domestic energy supplier".

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Presenter: Paul Lewis\nReporter: Dan Whitworth\nResearchers: Sandra Hardial and Jo Krasner\nEditor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 15th July, 2023)