Bristol MP demands clarity over £400 energy-bill rebate

Karin Smyth said the fuel increases were weighing on the minds of residents in Waverley Gardens

An MP has written to the government demanding clarity about how and when people will get help with energy bills.

Every household has been promised a £400 rebate, but some will not receive it automatically.

Residents in Bristol fear they might not receive the payment because their supply is organised through a charity and not classed as domestic supply.

Bristol South MP Karin Smyth said the "massive increases" in fuel costs were "weighing on people's minds".

A spokesperson for the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said the government was "urgently working to ensure as many customers as possible receive energy bills support".

Hilary Eddy said she is "very worried" about rising energy costs

"This has shocked all of us who live here," said Hilary Eddy, who lives in Waverley Gardens in South Bristol.

Ms Eddy's warden-assisted complex is managed by the charity Brunel Care, which also organises the residents' energy supply, despite residents paying their own bills.

"The thought of not having (the rebate), I didn't know what to do, I didn't know how I was going to pay the bill," added Ms Eddy.

Oona Goldsworthy said residents were "really concerned" they would not receive the rebate

The BEIS spokesperson said the funding "will be available to provide equivalent support of £400 for energy bills for the 1% of households who will not be reached through the scheme", including "those who do not have a domestic electricity meter or a direct relationship with an energy supplier".

An announcement with details on how and when these households can access the support is due to be made in the Autumn, when most households will receive their rebate.

Ms Eddy, who uses extra energy to power her ventilator, said: "I really want to know now.

"It would help if the government would actually say 'yes, you're getting your £400, this is how you're going to get it, this is when it's going to start'. That would ease some of the pressure."

"I don't know how I'm going to be able to pay some of the bills," said Hilary Eddy

Brunel Care said it was also waiting to hear from the government about how its residents would receive the money.

Chief executive Oona Goldsworthy said they were "really concerned because, why would they not qualify the same as everyone else?

"People need both reassurance but actually really clear action from the government about what is going to happen as people are looking to the winter."