People living in Wiltshire who have not already been given money to help pay their energy bills are being made aware of a new payment worth £400.  

Most households in the UK have been given a £400 discount on their energy bills by the government as part of its cost of living crisis support package.

But in some cases, people do not get the discount automatically; for example, if they pay for energy through a landlord, housing manager or site owner, or live in a park home, houseboat or off the electricity grid.

The government’s Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS AF) Alternative Funding is now in place to help these people.

The EBSS AF is providing support of £400 for energy bills for households in England, Scotland, and Wales without a direct relationship to a domestic electricity supplier.

The scheme is now open to all eligible households until May 31.

Subject to applications meeting the eligibility criteria, people who will be able to receive support under EBSS AF include:

  • care home residents and others in care facilities (wholly or partly self-funded)
  • park home residents, those living in houseboats/residential mooring and in caravans that can provide proof of address
  • social and private tenants who pay for energy through a landlord on a commercial supply
  • homes on a heat network/private wire
  • off-grid homes
  • farmhouses used for wholly domestic purposes

Anyone eligible for EBSS AF will need to fill out a short online form via www.gov.uk The form can be found by searching “Apply for energy bill support if you do not get it automatically” into the search bar or an internet search engine.

Applications are made directly to the government, not to or via Wiltshire Council. For those who do not have online access, they can apply via a contact centre on 08081 753287 where a representative will guide them through the application process.

Once they have applied, the application will be processed and verified.

After this, if the application is successful, details will be shared with Wiltshire Council, who will deliver the one-off, non-repayable support.

More than £3m has been issued to Wiltshire Council to distribute locally.

The payment will be made directly into the bank account in a single payment. Further information can be found here. 

The government has also announced a ‘sister’ scheme called Alternative Fuels Payment (AFP) for people that use alternative fuels for heating.

People may be eligible for a £200 Alternative Fuels Payment (AFP) if both the following are true:

  • their household is not connected to the mains gas grid
  • they use alternative fuels as their main form of heating

This one-off payment would be on top of the £400 from their electricity supplier.

People are eligible for this payment if the main way they heat their home uses:

  • tank or bottled gas
  • liquid petroleum gas (LPG)
  • oil
  • wood
  • solid fuel

Most homes that are eligible for this payment will get it automatically as a credit on their electricity bills, but they may not get the payment automatically if their home is either:

  • in an area which is mainly connected to the gas grid
  • not connected to either the gas or the electricity grid

If people do not receive this payment automatically, they have to apply for this payment through the same method as the AFP Alternative Fund, for example, because they do not have a contract with an electricity supplier.

Wiltshire Council will help process the payments made through the Government’s portal, which is the same one used for EBSS AF.

Wiltshire Council has been given more than £700k to distribute locally as part of this scheme.