[DebF_EONNext]

Morning everyone 👋

You may have seen today the Government have announced how the £400 energy bills discount/support grant will be received. We thought it would be helpful to give you all an update and answer some of the questions you might have surrounding this.

What is the £400 Energy Bills Discount?

It's a £400 grant that will be paid from October 2022 you don’t need to pay it back. This discount replaces the previously announced £200 loan.

This will be paid in installments over 6 months to help with energy bills over the winter. You'll receive £66 in October & November then £67 each month December - March. How you receive this will depend on what meter type you have & how you pay:

• Credit meter (direct debit customers) - You will see a reduction in your regular monthly direct debit payments.
• Credit meter (receipt of bill customers who make manual payments by card or post office etc) - This will be paid to your account automatically in the first week of each month so you won't need to do anything.
• Smart pay as you go meter - This will be applied to your meter automatically in the first week of the month.
• Traditional Prepayment meter (top up key/card) - You will receive a voucher either by post/email/text.These will be issued in the first week of the month and you will need to take the voucher to the post office like the WHD vouchers.

It's really important to ensure all of your contact details are up to date, you can check everything is up to date by logging into your online account or on the app. If your details are no longer up to date please get in touch with our energy specialists who can change this for you.

Why can't I have the full £400 straight away?

The Government is giving this to energy suppliers in installments to pass on to customers so it's not possible to have it in a lump sum.

Can I have it as a refund instead?

The money is being set aside by the Government to help with winter energy bills and the up coming price cap review therefore this should be used towards paying for your energy instead of being refunded.

Will this affect the Warm Home Discount?

No this will not affect any warm home discount payments.

What if my direct debit is less than £66 per month?

We are still waiting for further clarification on this however we believe that customers with a direct debit less than the payment amount your direct debit would be reduced and the remainder would be credited to your account for example if you paid £50 per month your direct debit would be reduced to £0 for those 6 month and the remaining £16 would be credited to your account.

My gas & electric are on separate accounts can I choose where it goes?

Unfortunately not the credit has to be applied to your electricity account, although if you have a traditional prepayment meter (not smart pay as you go) the voucher will be interoperable this means that although the vouchers are for the electricity meter you can use this on gas even if you are with a different supplier.

Is there any other help available?

We understand that this is a really worrying time & many of us are struggling with our energy bills and the cost of living in general, however if you are struggling please don't struggle alone there is help available.

You might find our thread Help with Energy Bills useful. There's lots of info on there about the other support that might be available for you.

Please don't struggle alone, our energy specialists are always on hand to help. You can find our contact details here.

Head to the E.ON Next website for more information.

[Andy65]

• Credit meter (direct debit customers) - You will see a reduction in your regular monthly direct debit payments.

Can I have it as a refund instead?

The money is being set aside by the Government to help with winter energy bills and the up coming price cap review therefore this should be used towards paying for your energy instead of being refunded.

Presumably @DebF_EONNext this is how the Government have instructed how the payment is to be made, but it doesn't make sense.
The fact that a customers' Direct Debit is being reduced by £66 or £67 per month is simply refunding the money back into their bank accounts.

Also, I don't see how it's going to help with energy bills. Reducing a Direct Debit and therefore refunding the amount back into bank accounts will only help a customers general finances.
I expected the money to be added directly to a customers account and Direct Debits would continue to be paid as normal. Reducing the Direct Debit doesn't help anyone with actual energy bills, particularly any customer that has a debit balance.

So my obvious question is, will eon-next offer me the option to maintain my Direct Debit at whatever level it's set at in October, and add the £66 or £67 as a credit to my account so that it does actually have the effect of helping with my energy bills?

[Tracy]

@DebF_EONNext thankyou for highlighting this has many people won't understand althou it can seem that not everyone will get it how they want it still somthing is better than nothing in regards to help with energy threw winter hopefully it will help people stay warm it's never nice Wen things rise and I feel so sorry for people who are already struggling but hopefully more help will come with this move 👍

[meldrewreborn]

@DebF_EONNext

I have electricity with you and gas with EDF.

I presume the energy discount will be given only to electricity accounts. If my electricity bills were low but my gas bills high would there be any process for switching the money over. I fully expect the answer to be no but for the record I'd like the answer on the record.

[meldrewreborn]

this is the link to the governments announcement.

£400 energy bills discount to support households this winter - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Collection via DD will be reduced by £66/67 (the bill itself being unaffected) and if the DD is for less than £66/67 then a credit will be made to the customers banks account.

So what happens to people who are not actually being billed by Eon next, despite vigorous attempts to get the matter rectified?

[DebF_EONNext]

Morning All 🌞

@Andy65 that is a very good point, these are the guidelines that we have been given as of 29th June however we are still ironing things out so we will keep these posts updated as we get more information. I will certainly ask the question for you and see if this is an option though.

@Tracy I agree it is a very worrying time for so many and this will help somewhat, there is other support available for customers but I do feel like there should be more help for our most vulnerable people. At least this will reduce some of the pressure people may be facing though.

@meldrewreborn as far as I know that for traditional prepayment customers the Post Office vouchers are going to be completely interoperable - this means that although vouchers are for the electricity meter, customers will be able to use their voucher on their gas meter even if this gas meter is with a different supplier. This isn't the case for Pay As You Go as we have to top up a specifically the electricity meter.

With credit meters I'm not 100% sure so will have to ask the question for you. It won't make much difference if it's a dual fuel account however for customers that come through on separate accounts I think this needs clarification so thanks for pointing that out!

Regarding your second question I'm not sure what you mean about people not being billed can you clarify that a bit for me?

[meldrewreborn]

People complain here that they are not being billed. If they get no bill will they get the credit?

[DebF_EONNext]

Originally Posted by meldrewreborn

People complain here that they are not being billed. If they get no bill will they get the credit?

I see what you mean now, absolutely they will @meldrewreborn. Usually when someone hasn't had a bill it's because we either haven't had a reading or there has been an issue with that reading (or our system thinks there has) and the bill has to be manually generated because our system flags it for further investigation, it could be something as simple as a wrong digit has been entered so the readings don't fall in line. This wouldn't stop someone from receiving the payment as they still have an active energy account.

I have also had a response to your question about the £400 when you are with different suppliers. So if you have a credit meter or smart pay as you go it will be credited to your electricity supplier and is not interoperable. So if your electricity is with us and gas with British Gas for instance then the credits would be with us and vice versa.

@Andy65 we are looking for further clarification on this one still however as soon as I know I will update you all 😊

[Joannelaura77]

@DebF_EONNext is the grant something that is automatically applied to the customer account or is it something that you have to apply for?

[Andy65]

Hi @Joannelaura77

It will be automatically applied to your electricity account, spread over 6 months. If you have a pre-payment meter then you will receive a voucher each month.
You do not need to apply for anything.