UK Government announced energy support package for almost all GB households

The UK government announced a package of support in April 2022 for almost all households in Great Britain¹. The package included the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme and the Energy Price Guarantee, which fixed a maximum unit price of £2,500 for a typical bill.

The Energy Price Guarantee sits alongside the energy price cap, which Ofgem sets and which limits what suppliers can charge for default tariffs. The guarantee was a government intervention rather than a cap set by the regulator, and it applied to a typical household bill rather than to a total bill for every home. The £400 payment under the Energy Bills Support Scheme was made to almost all households in Great Britain¹.

Consumer Scotland, the statutory body for consumers in Scotland, published an assessment of the energy crisis for disabled people on 8 June 2023¹. It found that 47% of disabled people reported they were not managing well financially, compared with 26% of non-disabled people, rising to 55% of those limited a lot by their disability¹. On energy bills specifically, 47% of disabled people reported finding it difficult to keep up, compared with 29% of non-disabled people, rising to 57% of those limited a lot¹.

The report also found that 73% of disabled people reported rationing energy use because of financial concerns, compared with 65% of non-disabled people, and 52% reported being unable to heat their home to a comfortable level, compared with 36% of non-disabled people¹. On spending, 47% of disabled people reported cutting back on food, compared with 32% of non-disabled people¹.

Consumer Scotland said eligibility for the Warm Home Discount scheme was changed to apply only to those also receiving low-income benefits¹. The Warm Home Discount is a separate scheme from the Energy Bills Support Scheme and the Energy Price Guarantee.

Why it matters for households

The Energy Price Guarantee limited the unit price a supplier could charge for a typical household, so the amount a household actually paid depended on how much gas and electricity it used. A home using more energy than the typical household would pay more than £2,500, and one using less would pay less. The £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme payment was made to almost all households in Great Britain, delivered through suppliers rather than as a cash payment.

The change to Warm Home Discount eligibility meant some households that had previously qualified no longer did so, because the scheme was restricted to those also receiving low-income benefits¹. Consumer Scotland's assessment, published in June 2023, covers the winter 2022 period when these measures were in force, and reports that disabled people and people with health conditions were more likely than others to report difficulty keeping up with energy bills, rationing energy use and cutting back on food¹.

What happens next

Consumer Scotland said it intended to conduct further work to identify the additional energy costs disabled people face and potential mechanisms to provide support, and that there is a need for organisations such as the Scottish government to gather improved data on the fuel poverty and affordability gap in Scotland¹. It also said it intended to undertake further analysis of the impact of the crisis on disabled energy consumers in Scotland and to develop policy options for the retail energy market¹. No further dates for these workstreams are given in the report¹.