[HelenaP_EONNext]

Hello everyone!

The new Winter Support Scheme 2024 is here to help support our most vulnerable customers this winter ❄️

What is the Winter Support Scheme?

As we start into the colder months, we want to ensure our vulnerable customers are receiving financial support and advice to place them in the best position! This is why the New Winter Support Scheme is offering up to £60 million to more than 60,000 of our most financially vulnerable customers to provide extra support!

The Winter Support Scheme is here to assist by providing financial support for energy bills, debit balances and extra support for those who are struggling with their ongoing energy payments.

What support will be available?

The support available would be discussed with eligible vulnerable customers and decided based on individual circumstances and the data held.

The support for our eligible vulnerable customers may include:

• A credit of £250 on the account to help customers with their energy bills this winter.
• Customers may also be eligible to receive additional financial support, such as debt relief which will be assessed customer to customer based on conversations with our vulnerability team.
• As well as offering support this winter, the scheme also provides support to help our customers manage their affordability for future payments by discussing and setting up affordable payment plans.
• The FREE installation of smart meters, where eligible to help our customers have more control over their energy!

Who is eligible for the Winter Support Scheme?

Customers who are eligible for the Winter Support Scheme have been identified and will be contacted directly by our team of vulnerability experts. Contact will be made via post, text, email and phone.

Affordability support

Although some customers may not be eligible for the Winter Support Scheme, we are still here to provide all the support and advice available to our customers to help with any affordability concerns!

• Check out our thread Changes to your E.ON Next payments, how can we help? to find out more on the extra support available and further budgeting and financial advice!
• You can also find out more information on the E.ON Next Energy Fund which is here to help customers who are struggling financially via our thread E.ON Next Energy Fund
• The Warm Home Discount Scheme for 2024/25 is now also open! Take a look at the thread E.ON Next Warm Home Discount 2024/2025 to find out more!
• Want to find out if you are eligible for insulation? Take a look at our thread The Great British Insulation Scheme

If you have any questions or require any support please let us know!

[ThomasK]

Again - is it too much to ask what the criterion is - why is this not transparent - leaving it vague and cryptic increases uncertainty and causes unnecessary stress for your customers. Many of the most vulnerable customers will be having to make tough decisions now around what they can afford for Christmas and even making hard choices between heating and food costs. They simply need to know if they will get this support of not - so why on earth not just publish the criterion so people can tell if its something they will get or not?

[Prettyeyez]

I agree with @ThomasK

It would be beneficial to know what the eligibility would be as we are already in the colder months of the year.

Today I had an email about increasing my DD to something that I cannot afford which didn’t make sense as my current usage is less that my current DD.

However, it would be nice to have the freedom/option to put my heating on but too afraid to do so because of the costs!

Yes, it’s great that eon is now offering this scheme again but why has this taken so long to put in place?

No one should have to choose between having heat or spending money on food…

[HelenaP_EONNext]

@ThomasK @Prettyeyez Thank you both for your feedback! 😊

I'm sorry for any stress this is causing, customer eligibility has been selected across different groups who are identified as vulnerable and require additional support over the winter period based on the data we hold. We do ask customers to ensure all their account data is up to date and if a customer is eligible for the scheme, they will be contacted.

I'm currently discussing your feedback with our vulnerability teams to check if there is any further information I can provide and the thread will be updated with any new information! 👀

If you would like to check your eligibility, most eligible customers accounts will be noted to indicate they are eligible but as the scheme is still on-going not all accounts will have yet been noted and would need to wait to be contacted.

I am very sorry to hear of any stress caused and we understand this is a difficult time, if customers do have affordability concerns or are struggling to afford their energy bills we have lots of support routes and can discuss this further with the customer to ensure they are receiving all the support available to them!

Extra support that we can look into can include Paylink, Stepchange, the Warm Home Discount Scheme and the E.ON Next Energy Fund 💜

@Prettyeyez If you feel your direct debit increase is affecting your affordability, have you taken a look at our thread Changes to your E.ON Next payments, how can we help? as this provides lots of information on the extra support available and how to contact us to discuss your direct debit and understand your affordability in a bit more detail 🙂

If you have any questions or require any extra support please let me know!

[ThomasK]

@HelenaP_EONNext thank you for the reply - but ultimately this amounts to merely platitudes - when what is needed is transparency and clarity - something Eon has it entirely in its power to provide - but is choosing not to ....
WHY?

[retrotecchie]

@ThomasK

It was made pretty clear in the opening post

Who is eligible for the Winter Support Scheme?

Customers who are eligible for the Winter Support Scheme have been identified and will be contacted directly by our team of vulnerability experts. Contact will be made via post, text, email and phone.

[meldrewreborn]

@Prettyeyez

Any Fixed direct debit needs to be fair and reasonable and accurate in relation to information the supplier holds.

I've covered this in another thread. https://community.eonnext.com/thread...ll=1#post54860

You are at perfect liberty to challenge their assessment of a Direct Debit amount. Things to challenge are their estimated future consumption (my electricity is 10% too high) and the prices to be charged ( i would suggest looking at a fix to reduce your prices) and whether you current positive balance has been correctly incorporated. I had to promise (i don't threaten to do things) that I would take them to the ombudsman on the matter before the backed down - and all for £3 per month. Point out the to them the OFGEM requirements and point out where they are not complying.

Another tactic is to request the return of your credit (have readings to hand) and then start a new Direct Debit period. As we're heading into the winter months your account will be in debit for quite a long time. Energy suppliers are big and ugly enough to look after themselves - consumers need to be agile and aware of their rights in dealing with them.

[meldrewreborn]

@HelenaP_EONNext

You say that "Although some customers may not be eligible for the Winter Support Scheme," when another statement would be " the scheme will benefit only 60,000 of our customers out of our total customer base of 5.6 million so only about 1% will benefit" which would be infinitely more accurate and informative.

Promote the scheme by all means but be realistic, otherwise you raise false expectations.

[HelenaP_EONNext]

@meldrewreborn Thank you, I understand that although the Winter Support Scheme is set to provide extra support to more than 60,000 of our most financially vulnerable customers this winter, there may still be customers who are not eligible for this particular scheme but still require extra support.

We will be continuing to promote and discuss any extra support that may be available to our customers to ensure anyone with any concerns around their affordability has information of what extra support and advice may be available to them!

We can also discuss with customers on an individual basis any affordability concerns, as we understand circumstances can be ever-changing! 💜

[meldrewreborn]

@HelenaP_EONNext

By all means promote what you can do to help, but make it clear that you are only able to help a fraction of your customers.

99% are not eligible, that’s very different from “some”. It’s about being honest truthfull and transparent.