Don’t Pay ……….. Will you be signing up? I’m in!

Every household in the country is receiving £400 towards bills. Pensioners are getting £300 instead of the usual £200. People on benefits (pension credit therefore) are getting £600 towards their bills alongside the other extra payments. Have you all forgotten?

No.

maddyone

Every household in the country is receiving £400 towards bills. Pensioners are getting £300 instead of the usual £200. People on benefits (pension credit therefore) are getting £600 towards their bills alongside the other extra payments. Have you all forgotten?

Oh dear, I thought we were getting an EXTRA £300 on top of our £200….

Just me and thee then Sago!
(And I’m having second thoughts…)

Shinamae as I understood it, it’s an extra £100 on to the usual heating allowance which is £200 normally. However we are all getting £400 per household in addition to the pensioners heating allowance. Every household in the country is getting that £400. Most pensioner households will receive therefore £700 towards their energy bills this year, but pensioners who are on Pension Credit will get an additional £600 as well as the other payments. In addition we will all get a reduction to our Council Tax, paid for by government.
Quite a lot in my opinion.

rosie1959

No of course not will totally screw your credit rating

That was my very first thought. That might not matter so much if you’re retired, mortgage paid off etc but for someone younger who will need credit in the future, it’s a non-starter, I reckon.

If you cancel your DD and don't pay the energy company is entirely within its rights to insist you have a pay meter installed. Provision through one of these automatically costs more. The energy companies have been dealing with people who haven't paid their bills for a long time and they know what to do/

And they can even charge you for the installation www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/get-help-paying-your-bills/stop-your-energy-supplier-installing-a-prepayment-meter/

Glorianny

If you cancel your DD and don't pay the energy company is entirely within its rights to insist you have a pay meter installed. Provision through one of these automatically costs more. The energy companies have been dealing with people who haven't paid their bills for a long time and they know what to do/

So basically we’re screwed if we do and we’re screwed if we don’t. ?‍♀️

Shinamae this us from YouGov website:

Any money you get is tax-free and will not affect your other benefits.

Born between 26 September 1942 and 25 September 1956

You qualify and live alone (or none of the people you live with qualify)£500
You qualify and live with someone under 80 who also qualifies £250
You qualify and live with someone 80 or over who also qualifies£250
You qualify, live in a care home and do not get certain benefits£250

JBorn on or before 25 September 1942*

You qualify and live alone (or none of the people you live with qualify)£600
You qualify and live with someone under 80 who also qualifies£350
You qualify and live with someone 80 or over who also qualifies£300
You qualify, live in a care home and do not get certain benefits£300

Have you all forgotten the money you're being given? Most of us won’t be paying for it, just receiving it. Those younger than us will be paying for it through their taxes. I still pay tax so I will be paying, but others will pay much more. How much more do you want to load on to younger people to pay?

www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/how-much-youll-get

If you usually get £200 fuel payment you will get £500 for this year only, if you usually get £300 if you are over 809, you will get £600 for this y

Sorry posted too soon
Should have said if you are over 80 you will get £600 for this year only.

Chewbacca

Shinamae this us from YouGov website:

Any money you get is tax-free and will not affect your other benefits.

Born between 26 September 1942 and 25 September 1956

You qualify and live alone (or none of the people you live with qualify)£500
You qualify and live with someone under 80 who also qualifies £250
You qualify and live with someone 80 or over who also qualifies£250
You qualify, live in a care home and do not get certain benefits£250

JBorn on or before 25 September 1942*

You qualify and live alone (or none of the people you live with qualify)£600
You qualify and live with someone under 80 who also qualifies£350
You qualify and live with someone 80 or over who also qualifies£300
^You qualify, live in a care home and do not get certain benefits£300^

So it is an extra £300 on top of the £200? Thank you very much for that ??

Goodness, the winter fuel payment is more than I thought.

You’ll only get this extra amount in winter 2022 to 2023 Shinamae, it will, presumably, return to £200 next year. And don't forget that you can apply for the Warm Home Discount too. Last year that was £140 and is paid directly to your energy provider.

Does that include the £400 payment to every household? I can’t see that it does as then it would decrease the winter fuel payment? Effectively.
I’m a bear of very little brain I’m afraid.

I know it’s all one off payments, at this stage anyway.

Chewbaccer is the one off payment only for certain pensioners? Those on pension credit? We normally get the usual £200 for our household, I don’t think (normally) we’d qualify for any more help. Quite rightly as we’re not on any benefits, other than the charmingly called old age pension.

No certainly not. I'm hoping the financial help will be enough.

It's my AC I'm more concerned about.

maddyone the £400 that's being paid to every household is the Cost of Living Energy Payment. It will be paid directly to your energy provider in instalments of:

£66.00 in October
£66.00 in November
£67.00 in December
£67.00 in January 2023
£67.00 in February 2023
£67.00 in March 2023

This is in addition to the Winter Fuel Allowance that's paid to everyone in receipt of State Retirement Pension, as detailed in the above table.

Oh I see. Thank you Chewbaccer.

No, we will make sure we have warmth and enough to eat. Anything else other than utilities , if we cannot afford them tough.

I dont want my credit rating messed up or to pay more. Sorry wont be standing with anyone on this.

FannyCornforth

Baggy but there will be people who literally cannot pay.
We have to stand together

Hi, anyone who cannot pay,and there will lots as there were before the increases were made, should contact their supplier immediately they know they are in difficulty and try to get some kind of financial arrangement in place.

There will be guidelines in place as to how long the suppliers have to process requests and if they do not adhere to these then they can be reported to their governing bodies and ultimately fined if they are found to be breaching the terms of their agreements. I hope they are recruiting for additional staff right now to deal with the increased volumes.

However the outcome could be that they will insist that a pre payment meter is installed, unless of course the arrears are repaid immediately. This might be of some assistance to some people despite some inconvenience. It's more convenient than having your fuel supply disconnected.

No, I shan't sign up to this. I can't see that it would achieve anything except cause trouble for us, the consumers.
It's not good advice, imho.