Posted on 21 December 2022
As energy prices increase, many people across the UK are looking at ways they can get financial help in order to stay on top of their bills. The Government are implementing several financial aid schemes, and you’re likely benefitting from one or more of these already.
Energy Bill Support Scheme – domestic energy supply
Many households have been benefiting from the Energy Bill Support Scheme (EBSS) since October. This is a non-repayable £400 off your energy bill, that’s given to you by your energy provider. However, some Hyde customers won’t have received this yet. This could be:
- Because their property is heated by a communal heat network and/or private wire electricity supply, which we supply the energy for. Because this is non-domestic, the EBSS has not been applied yet.
- Because the scheme doesn’t go towards communal area heating. So, you may receive this for your home energy supply, but it won’t impact your communal area heating service charge.
We purchase commercial, non-domestic energy for these heat networks and communal areas, and recharge the cost to customers.
Energy Bill Relief Scheme – non-domestic energy supply
The Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) is a Government scheme to provide financial relief for commercial gas buyers, like schools, hospitals, and housing associations.
If you’re on a communal heat network, we recently wrote a letter to you explaining the increase in your heat tariff. This tariff is set in order to recharge the energy we’ve purchased for you. We appreciate how much of a concern these increases are. The cost of the gas we purchased was much higher this year.
The Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) gives us some money back on this commercial gas that we’ve purchased for you. This saving will be passed on to you by applying a discount on your energy bill. We don’t make any profit, we simply pass the cost on to our customers, and will pass the saving on too.
What happens now and what is the discount?
Your energy bill is still going to be higher than usual. The EBSS and EBRS will not cover the total amount of the energy cost increase, just some of it.
I have my own energy supply but pay communal energy in my service charges
If you pay energy in your service charges, the increased cost will show on your September 2023 service charge statement. The discount through the EBRS will be seen then too. You should be receiving your £400 discount through the EBSS already through your home energy supplier.
My home is connected to a communal heat network, and I’m billed by Switch2
Switch2 are our metering and billing contractor. They help to fairly distribute the energy we purchase by setting the tariff, and billing individual customers according to their meter.
You’ll receive a letter from Switch2, outlining the discount you’re going to receive.
My electricity is provided through a Private Wire
If you don’t have a separate electricity supplier and instead, we send you a bill for electricity, you’ll be on a Private Wire supply. We’re waiting on confirmation about how the EBSS will reach you, but we’ll be sure to pass on the savings we receive. Once we’ve been instructed how to distribute this saving, we’re legally obliged to do so.
Learn more about energy and heat networks by reading some frequently asked questions.
Where else can I get financial help for my energy bills?
We’ve compiled lots of information about financial support, ways you save money on energy, and places you can go for further financial help, on our Helping Hand – advice and support page.
This includes:
We’re here to help
If you’re worried that you won’t be able to afford your rent and energy bills, we want to help. Contact us and speak to your Income Officer. The sooner you get in touch, the easier it is for us to help.