In Business and Energy Questions in the House of Commons this week, Richard asked the government to confirm how the £400 energy discount payments to park home owners will be made and whether they would receive a lump sum or series of payments when the scheme was up and running.
In December, the government announced that households without a direct relationship with a domestic energy supplier, such as park home residents who pay their energy fees to the site owner and do not have individual meters, will receive the £400 discount on their fuel bills through the Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) Alternative Funding scheme.
Richard Fuller MP said:
Some light was shed today on the concerns of many park home residents about when and how they will receive their energy prices support.
In response to my questions to the Minister for Energy, he replied that ‘yes’ the support would be paid directly to the resident and not the park owner and ‘yes’ it would be paid as a single lump sum.
This will be helpful for the many park home residents in North East Bedfordshire who have been waiting longer than others to receive this support.
The Minister also confirmed that the online portal for applications will be open at the end of this month and payments will be made by local authorities as soon as possible from February onwards.
Richard’s question and the Minister’s reply can be watched at https://youtu.be/FAUiRQjMzPA
Those eligible for the EBSS Alternative Funding will need to submit a short online form via the government’s GOV.UK pages, with the application portal due to open at the end of January. A dedicated customer helpline will be available to assist customers who do not have online access. A pilot was launched on 16 January 2023 and trials are underway.
Once customers have applied to receive support and their applications have been processed and verified, eligible customers’ details will be shared with local authorities across England, Scotland and Wales, who will deliver the one-off, non-repayable support this winter.
