Sunak due to announce new financial measures, at 11am today.

Whitewavemark2

So my account will be showing a £400 credit, but the actual money will be squirrelled away to be invested on a daily basis by the energy suppliers.

They are going to make ridiculous amounts from our money.

Maybe it will be possible to ask the energy company to refund your 'excess credit', just like I believe you can now if you have over a month's worth of credit - supposedly, anyway, though with some companies I've heard it's like trying to get blood out of a stone.

Though if people start to do that, and the Government realises, they might quickly change the rules ...

We're all getting about £67 a month off our electric bill for six months, starting October. If your bill usually less than £67 a month, I think that means you will pay nothing for 6 months. At the end of the 6 months you'll get a credit for the balance of the £400 that you haven't been given yet.

I think.

Some people are never satisfied Oldnproud. Moan if they don’t get anything, moan if they do. At least passing the money to the power companies means it’s spent on energy, which is what it’s being given for.

Oldnproud

Whitewavemark2

So my account will be showing a £400 credit, but the actual money will be squirrelled away to be invested on a daily basis by the energy suppliers.

They are going to make ridiculous amounts from our money.

Maybe it will be possible to ask the energy company to refund your 'excess credit', just like I believe you can now if you have over a month's worth of credit - supposedly, anyway, though with some companies I've heard it's like trying to get blood out of a stone.

Though if people start to do that, and the Government realises, they might quickly change the rules ...

You can't currently get any credit back unless it is above the Warm Home Discount amount, if you receive it. At least not until the following summer. Some companies will wait until the end of that year (August). I imagine this will be the same.

You could reduce your Direct Debit amount as far as they will allow, putting it back up if/when you use all the government credit. If your company lets you do this, it will help those who use oil and therefore will only be able to use the £400 for electricity.

Germanshepherdsmum

Some people are never satisfied Oldnproud. Moan if they don’t get anything, moan if they do. At least passing the money to the power companies means it’s spent on energy, which is what it’s being given for.

Ah well GSM we are all getting benefits now. They have to be as suspicious of you as you seem to want them to be of those needing benefits before the price rises.

I dread to think what you might get up to with your benefit What was it that was suggested the other day - drugs and drink? They are certainly not exclusive to the poor.

Your comment "I'm afraid your first paragraph is just a paean to the Tory party Saetana"

I acknowledged paean as meaning praise but said I didn't know what Saetana meant, have you spelt it correctly or did you add the word by mistake?

It's her username.

How and when these payments will be made:

Energy payment:
The discount will be made automatically by your energy supplier. There is no need to apply.

Over the course of six months from October, direct debit and credit customers will have the money credited to their account. Customers with pre-payment meters will have the money applied to their meter or paid via a voucher.

The £650 means tested payment:
A £650 payment will be made to more than eight million low-income households who receive Universal Credit, tax credits, pension credit and other means-tested benefits.

This will be an automatic payment into bank accounts.
It comes in two instalments - the first in July and the second sometime in autumn. Payments for those on tax credits only will follow shortly afterwards.

Disability payment:
Those on disability benefits will receive £150 in September, which may be on top of the £650 payment, because in many cases they have higher energy use.

Anyone receiving the following benefits will be entitled to the extra £150: Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance, Scottish Disability Benefits, Armed Forces Independence Payment, Constant Attendance Allowance and War Pension Mobility Supplement.

Pensioner Extra Fuel payment:
Households that receive the Winter Fuel Payment - which is worth £200-£300 and is paid to nearly all homes with at least one person of pension age - will receive an additional £300 in November or December.

That should cover nearly all pensioners across the UK.

Lower-income pensioners, who claim pension credit, will receive the money in addition to the £650 support for those on benefits which is mentioned above."

Germanshepherdsmum

Some people are never satisfied Oldnproud. Moan if they don’t get anything, moan if they do. At least passing the money to the power companies means it’s spent on energy, which is what it’s being given for.

It isn’t a question of that as well you know.

It is a question if tax payers money being deposited in vast quantities into the energy suppliers bank accounts, who have already said that they are awash with money.

They will use that money and increase it on a daily basis by investing in the money markets. They do that anyway, this will just add to their enormous pot of money until it is gradually used up.
At the very least these I’ll gotten gains should be ploughed back into a pot for those who can least afford it.

As I said wwm, it means the money is spent on energy bills. Otherwise some would spend it on other things and freeze next winter.

Germanshepherdsmum

As I said wwm, it means the money is spent on energy bills. Otherwise some would spend it on other things and freeze next winter.

Rory Stewart would not agree. He belongs to a charity that gives hard cash to the poor, as it is found that they know better than any charity exactly what they need. He recognises that there is a risk that a tiny proportion may fritter it away, but he says it is a minor irritant when compared to the absolute good the poor can achieve with the money they are given.

Giving it via their energy accounts is the only way to ensure that it is spent on energy. And if it also benefits the energy companies don’t you think it’s also a means of making it more likely that the new tax on profits might be repeated in subsequent years? Fewer objections? Remember also that we want these companies to invest in greener energy. No point in squeezing them till the pips squeak.

Germanshepherdsmum

Giving it via their energy accounts is the only way to ensure that it is spent on energy. And if it also benefits the energy companies don’t you think it’s also a means of making it more likely that the new tax on profits might be repeated in subsequent years? Fewer objections? Remember also that we want these companies to invest in greener energy. No point in squeezing them till the pips squeak.

Personally I would like the government to be investing in green energy and not to be dependent on the whims of the fossil fuel companies.

I suspect the government will have some bargaining power there.

May be, GSM, but this government is driven by the far right who are championing deregulation and unfettered markets. They're not interested in climate change and green energy.

We should renationalise the energy industry so that we are not in hock to political ideology or the demands of share holders for dividends.

I would certainly support renationalisation of power, water and railways but the cost would be phenomenal. Simply not affordable.

I’m very happy with the measures and pleased some of the charges will be off set.

I should say the increased charges.

I haven't worked out the numbers so this might not be right, but...

There's a windfall tax on big oil and gas profits, which is being given to us in the way of a discount off fuel bills, which will go back to the oil and gas firms.

So they get the money anyway. Is it just me?

They may not otherwise have received so much, with people economising on fuel.

But the windfall tax is on profits already earned.

(I'm not being contrary, I just don't get it.)

Yes it is. But if great swathes of people didn’t heat their houses next winter their revenues would dip somewhat then. And keeping their profits up assists in imposing another levy next year if necessary as well as reducing their ability to refuse to cut back on the development of greener energy.

Can people check the facts of these payments before they post. Misinformation may lead to even greater anxiety for some members.

Mollie it quite difficult to unpack what you are asking.

You can find what is being paid to whom and how, here.

I imagine we all know that everyone, rich, poor, in need or not, but unjudged by the rest of us, will get the £400. It replaces the original "loan not a loan" of £200. I cannot find details as to whether the £400 also replaces the original WHD (Warm Home Discount) of £140 that currently goes on the accounts of people on the basis of fuel poverty.

This will be paid in the same way that the WHD was applied, on to your energy account.

To be eligible for the first of the two instalments, the £650 (not £600!) is going to be paid to all those on universal credit; income-based jobseekers allowance; income-related employment and support allowance; income support; working tax credit; child tax credit; and pension credit, including those who have begun a claim which is later successful on or before May 25, 2022

More information about the second tranche of this and about when you have to have claimed is to be made available later in the year. However, if you know someone who should be claiming Pension Credit then please encourage them to do it now. They may then, at least, get the second half of this.

All eligible pensioner households will receive the one off £300 payment. For most this will be directly into the account that receives their State Pension.