To think this rebate announced today is a total con

[Viviennemary]

So this so called rebate has to be paid back. It isnt exactly a rebate then is it?

I’m not sure what is going on, there has to be some Tory compadre backhander nonsense behind this £200 loan nonsense

I don’t need or want a £200 loan. I’d much rather my £200 was GIVEN to someone on means tested benefits to give a little breathing space.

I'm fortunate in that I was able to fix my energy costs early and I won't see a rise till Nov 2023. My energy bills are low anyway (£80pm), because I live alone in a well insulated house .

I don't need the so-called rebate, and I certainly don't want to have the repayment added to my bills when they're likely to be rising anyway, because my fixed-rate deal will be ending. If an opt-out was possible, I'd go for it.

The council reduction is welcome though. At £120+ a month (after the single person discount), it's my biggest bill by quite some distance.

I agree with a windfall tax on oil and gas companies as explained here.

I’m wondering who voted YABU….

So it's automatic? That's annoying, we neither want nor need it, I don't want to pay it back over 5 years, just leave my bills as they are! They've really missed the mark here.

If an opt-out was possible, I'd go for it.

Hold on @LakieLady, you can’t opt out from taking a ,Ian with the government you don’t want?!?
Please tell me you say NO…..

Surely we should be able to opt out. I don't want to owe this shower a cent.

I don't want his £200 loan either. Our electricity costs are fixed until March 2023 and we don't have gas - just an oil tank where prices have always fluctuated anyway.
Neither do we need a council tax rebate for our band D property. Obviously no one wants to pay more tax but we can afford to pay the increase as can most of my friends living in band D properties (even if it means they can only have 3 holidays abroad this year instead of the usual 4!).

I hate hate hate the tories and what they are doing to the population just now.
If they wanted to shaft the whole of us, they wouldn’t do it any other way.

Fgs, forcing people to take a loan they don’t want or need, potentially putting in trouble in a few years.
But not giving any meaningful support to those who actually need help.

Who the fuck are they??

Just realised that my post upthread sounds a bit like I'm not in favour of people getting help to manage the huge rise in energy costs, which couldn't be further from what I really think.

I think they should double the existing discount scheme, which goes to those most in need and isn't repayable.

@Zotter

I agree with a windfall tax on oil and gas companies as explained here.

I so agree with this.

Gas lighting the gas bill!
It’s a fucking loan and we are not even given a choice as to whether or not we want to borrow it.

@TheApexOfMyLife

If an opt-out was possible, I'd go for it.

Hold on @LakieLady, you can’t opt out from taking a ,Ian with the government you don’t want?!?
Please tell me you say NO…..

I wouldn’t be surprised if zero details had actually been worked out. But the announcement was "This year all domestic electricity customers will get an upfront discount on their bills worth £200. Energy suppliers will apply the discount on people’s bills from October, with the government meeting the cost in full." (quote from Sunak’s speech). So it doesn’t immediately sound like something you can opt out of.

Personally I don't want it but I suspect we won't have a choice, it'll be auto-added and then auto-deducated.

Me neither. I'm on a two year fix, since August last year. While my bills have gone up, it's affordable for me during the term. I don't want a compulsory loan when it's not required.

[quote ChazsBrilliantAttitude]@OmgIThinkILikeYou
You may be able to challenge your band
www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change/[/quote]
Thank you! I live in a new build estate and having a look, all the houses seem to fall into 1 band above where they should be based on the valuations. Fingers crossed it gets dropped. Thank you

Surely you cannot be forced into taking a loan of any kind?? I don't want it, not least because I do not want a non negotiable £40 addition to future fuel bills.
I suspect there will be a challenge if there is no opt out.

We are exceptionally fortunate in that we don't need this loan/rebate.
Like others, I'd much prefer 'our' loan/rebate to go to a household that needs it.

I really don't think that this has been thought out properly.

How will repayment work practically? £40 extra one month a year, or spread out evenly over the year? I don't want my bills to be drastically lower or higher, I just want consistency or budgeting is a pain.

Same with the council tax, do you just not pay for a month or two? Or do they recalculate the rate.
I hope the government is paying the councils for this and not just drastically slashing their budgets by default

The £200 is not really a loan to each household where the household must pay it back. The best way to look at it is that all electricity bills will be reduced by £200 in October 2022. From April 2023, all electricity bills will be increased by £40 a year for five years. The government is lending the money to the energy companies who will have to pay back what they borrow.

Somebody who gets a house for the first time after April 2023 will not benefit from the £200 discount, but will still have to pay the extra £40 on their bills each year up to and including April 2027

Somebody who stops being an electricity consumer in March 2023 (dies, emigrates, moves in with someone else etc.) will benefit from the £200 reduction but will never be subject to the £40/year extra.

It doesn't matter whether you move house, change energy suppliers, change the name on the bills, the system will take care of it.

As far as I know the system applies to England only, and the other home nations will be given money and can make their own decisions about their own schemes.

Somebody who gets a house for the first time after April 2023 will not benefit from the £200 discount, but will still have to pay the extra £40 on their bills each year up to and including April 2027

Really? Is that not absurd? Is that definitely how it’s going to work?

It is total rubbish. Sunak needs to use a dictionary. It is not a rebate nor a discount. It is a loan.

A complete bag of shit and an insult to voters.

But don't worry...we are all in it together...

My DH and I were wondering what tough choices Rishi and his wife will be making.

We had visions of them debating whether to heat their £2 million Yorkshire mansion (& accompanying £400,000 leisure complex) or their £5m bed Kensington property. Because they simply can't afford to do both... 🤔🤔🤔

My quote for a new fixed deal is just under £4K / year (used to be £1900 / year, dual fuel). Of course, £200 are going to save my budget.

Why only bands a-d thats divisive Lots of farmers are on thier uppers and live in houses council rax band above that

I really dont trust a system that enforces a 'loan' onto the poorest in the country, with no option to opt out, and very little details as to exactly what being indebted to them will entail. I dont trust them. I dont trust them at all. What are they going to want in exchange for their loan.