Millions of pounds worth of energy vouchers not cashed

One in five households with pre-payment meters have not cashed in their energy vouchers issued to help pay bills.

Data seen by the BBC showed about 380,000 vouchers, totalling up to 19% of homes, were not redeemed each month in October and in November.

It means as much as £50m of government support for energy has gone unclaimed by some of the most vulnerable.

The government urged energy firms to do more to make sure customers got the help they were entitled to.

"When a voucher is not redeemed, suppliers must make at least three attempts to reach the customer, by more than one means which can include post, email and text message," it said.

It also said that customers could contact their energy supplier to have a voucher reissued even if it has expired. The reissued voucher will then be valid for three months from the date it has expired.

The Energy Support Scheme provides £400 to each household in Britain.

Most of the homes in England, Scotland and Wales pay their energy bill by direct debit and have been getting about £66 a month knocked off their bills or credited to their account automatically.

However, the system has been more cumbersome for the two million households that have a traditional pre-payment meter for their gas or electricity. They receive the support through vouchers in the post or via email.

The vouchers then need to be taken to a local PayPoint store or a Post Office to be credited onto a meter.

Many households with traditional pre-payment meters are considered among the most vulnerable. Customers pay for their energy in advance, either through an account or using a top-up card and in many cases these meters have often been fitted when people have a history of missing bill payments.

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Figures from both PayPoint and the Post Office showed that 81% of vouchers for October and November were cashed before they expired, meaning 19% - roughly 380,000 homes - did not cash those vouchers before the November expiry date on 5 February.

Although the deadline has passed, it is still possible for the voucher money to be claimed. A person who has not received their voucher or has not cashed it in time needs to contact their energy supplier, check that their contact details are correct, and ask for the voucher to be reissued to them.

With exactly the same proportion of vouchers not redeemed for both October and November, it could mean that some households have missed out both months, and therefore be £132 out-of-pocket.

According to Citizens Advice, the main reason for people not cashing an energy voucher is because they haven not received it yet.

Dr Elizabeth Blakelock, an energy specialist at the charity, said some people had been told to check emails for vouchers, but did not have access to the internet.

"They don't use an email account regularly so they can't use that method," she added. "And there seems to be many people where their address data is incorrect, so it just hasn't landed on their doorstep."

Energy suppliers have been criticised for their treatment of vulnerable customers, and especially over the issue of forcibly fitted prepayment meters.

Charities say vulnerable people who have been switched have not been able to afford to top-up their meter, leaving them in the cold and dark during the winter.

The latest data comes during a series of developments on the issue during the last 24 hours including:

• Magistrates' courts in England and Wales being ordered to stop authorising warrants that allow energy firms to enter people's homes to fit pre-payment meters

• A government-set deadline of the end of Tuesday for firms to report how they will act in response to complaints from customers who have been wrongfully force-fitted these meters, such as providing compensation payments

• A warning from the Resolution Foundation think tank that, despite falling wholesale prices, bills will still be higher for many people after April when government support is scaled back

• The National Audit Office saying that government energy support packages present value-for-money risks because they were introduced universally and at speed

Dr Blakelock said there was a "core group" of people who were "just not getting the support that they need".

"What we need to see is for the energy companies to make it really easy for people to get in contact with them so that they can reissue those vouchers," she added.

Steve O'Neill, corporate affairs and marketing director at PayPoint said of the people who cashed their vouchers in its stores, 23% waited less than a day before redeeming it.

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