The new Winter Support Scheme 2024.
This winter, cost of living pressure looks to remain high for a significant number of UK households. For example, more than half of those asking the Citizens Advice Bureau for debt advice have essential costs that exceed their household budget.
That’s why we’re providing to offer up to £60 million of extra support to more than 60,000 of our most financially vulnerable customers this winter, with the launch of our targeted Winter Support Scheme.
That assistance includes financial help with energy bills, and even writing off the debt of some of our most financially vulnerable who are struggling to pay.
This scheme is not only there to help customers with their energy bills now, but also to give them a fresh start by cancelling their debt and then setting them on a path where they can afford to pay their energy bills into the future.
In previous years, we have helped tens of thousands of our customers reduce their energy bills and wipe off millions of pounds of debt from their accounts.
We're contacting eligible customers directly, and our team of vulnerability experts are reaching out to them and offer financial assistance and support with their energy bills.
What help is available?
We’ll discuss how we can help customers on a case-by-case basis and may initially offer customers a £250 bill credit to help with their energy bills.
We’ll also look at giving eligible customers debt relief on their whole debt balance, based on their individual circumstances. For this we’ll ask them to provide meter readings, confirm their details and that they have a smart meter (or agree to have one installed).
We hope that short-term help like this will keep our most vulnerable customers warm through winter. However, we believe that longer-term solutions are the key to ending fuel poverty on a national level.
That’s why we’re lobbying the Government to bring in targeted financial support such as a social tariff for households that spend a high proportion of their income on energy bills.
In the meantime, we have tariffs such as Next Pledge that are available to all our customers. This tracks the price cap and always remains £50 below that cap (for annual average consumption).
Then there’s the E.ON Next Energy Fund, through which customers can apply for further financial support.
We also offer help with the costs of insulation as part of the Great British Insulation Scheme.
Who is eligible for the new Winter Support Scheme?
Our team of experts have identified customers who are eligible and we’re contacting those customers directly via post, text, email and phone.
Struggling to pay.
We offer support to any of our customers who are struggling to pay, whether or not they qualify for the new Winter Support Scheme.
Help includes free debt advice from our partner StepChange. There’s the E.ON Next Energy Fund too, which provides grants to help pay energy bills or replace essential appliances.
But should anyone want further advice on how we can help them with their energy costs, we have a help page with answers to the most common questions.
We hope that this support will help our vulnerable customers keep their homes warm this winter and give them the peace of mind that comes from knowing they can afford to do so.