Support with Energy Bills

Update 1 June 2023:
Please note the application form and the freephone telephone number for the Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding (EBSS AF) and Alternative Fuel Payment (AFP) schemes closed to new applicants on Wednesday 31 May 2023. 

Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding (EBSS AF):

The EBSS AF scheme provides support to households who are ineligible for the Energy Bills Support Scheme discount (automatically paid by domestic electricity suppliers in 6 instalments from October 2022) because they do not have a domestic electricity contract.

The types of households eligible for this one-off payment of £400 include:

o             Park home residents

o             Households on a private electricity network on a private electricity network on a private electricity network

o             Households with a commercial or communal electricity supply

o             Partly and wholly self-funded care home residents

o             Houseboats on residential moorings

o             Off-grid households

o             Traveller households on authorised sites

o             Temporary/supported accommodation

o             Business premises used for domestic purposes

Households who are eligible for the Energy Bills Support Scheme discount are not eligible for the EBSS AF scheme.

All eligible households need to make an application for the EBSS AF payment here on the GOV.UK website

Support is available for applicants who are unable to make an online application by calling this freephone telephone number 0808 175 3287 Monday to Friday, 08.00 to 18.00.

The application form and the freephone telephone number for this scheme will close to new applicants on Wednesday 31 May 2023.

Alternative Fuel Payment (AFP):

Households who are eligible for the Energy Bills Support Scheme discount on energy bills of £400 (automatically paid by domestic electricity suppliers in 6 instalments from October 2022) may also be eligible for AFP.

The AFP scheme will provide a one-off payment of £200 to households who are not on the mains gas grid and therefore use alternative fuels, such as oil, solid fuel or bottled gas to heat their homes.

The majority of payments to eligible households will automatically be made by their electricity supplier. However, households who do not have a domestic electricity contract will need to make an application for this payment.

Applications for this scheme will open in March on the GOV.UK website, further information about this scheme is available here