1 year ago
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More than 4 cardinal struggling households are acceptable to prevention £45 a twelvemonth connected vigor bills from 1 July, the authorities has said.
This volition hap by bringing prepayment vigor charges successful enactment with customers who wage by nonstop debit.
Households which person prepayment meters are typically susceptible oregon connected debased incomes.
But they wage much due to the fact that vigor firms walk connected the costs of managing the meters.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who is expected to denote the program successful his Spring Budget connected Wednesday, said it was "clearly unfair that those connected prepayment meters wage much than others".
The other charges struggling households would person paid volition alternatively beryllium met nether the government-funded Energy Price Guarantee astatine a outgo of £200m.
Regulator Ofgem volition study connected however to permanently extremity the "prepayment penalty" erstwhile that authorities enactment ends successful April 2024, the Treasury said.
Prepayment meters person been nether the spotlight successful caller months.
Last period it emerged that indebtedness agents acting for British Gas had breached into susceptible people's homes to force-fit meters, and that courts had been waving done vigor steadfast applications to forcibly instal meters.
Ofgem, which is reviewing prepayment meters, told vigor firms astatine the extremity of February to commencement compensating customers whose homes were wrongfully fitted with a prepayment meter.
Firms were banned from installing prepayment vigor meters nether warrant, but that is owed to extremity astatine the extremity of March.
In November past twelvemonth it was revealed that a rising fig of households are having their astute meters remotely switched to prepayment meters.
Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps said: "Charging prepayment metre customers much to person their vigor is simply a taxation connected immoderate of our astir susceptible - this alteration volition halt that."
Labour said the authorities had "finally listened" to its calls for "an extremity to the unfair prepayment metre penalty".
"Their hold volition beryllium acold comfortableness for the millions of prepayment customers who person been paying higher vigor bills arsenic a effect of the government's indecisiveness," said Ed Miliband, Labour's shadiness clime and nett zero secretary.
In summation to prepayment help, the authorities is expected to widen the Energy Price Guarantee astatine existent levels for a further 3 months.
Typical household vigor bills were going to emergence to £3,000 a twelvemonth from April, the authorities is expected to clasp its existent level of enactment with the headdress astatine £2,500.
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