Social tariffs- bills & other tips

[Orangesandlemons77]

I just thought I'd mention this in case it helps any others.

I was having some advice from he local council regarding low income / UC / PIP and they mentioned there may be social tariffs available for things like water bills, heating, broadband, sometimes these are not advertised though.

Just wondered if anyone knew / had these and also wanted to share any other tips for those on low incomes / with disabilities.

Never heard of anything like this but following out of interest.

I have medical equipment at home which relies on power but apart from the standard December free for both gas and electric along with priority for outages due to medical conditions, my provider has no special tariffs that I’m aware of. I'm on pre payment meters so it’s really cheap anyway.

Broadband- anyone claiming UC can get 2 years on social tarrif, it's usually £19 or £20/month

We're on priority register (child has medical equipment) but never heard about free December 😕

Moneysavingexpert.com is good for things like this. There's links to reducing the cost of all bills, plus details of social tariffs where eligible.

For anyone on UC, they can get a Help to Save account run by the government that you can pay up to £50 a month into which pays a 50% bonus on the highest balance after 2 years and a further bonus after 4 years.

It I'd designed to encourage saving for irregular expenses like Christmas and putting money aside for an emergency.

Not aware of Social Tariffs for gas/electric though there is a 'warm home scheme' with pretty limited access.

In England/Wales the water companies all have them but conditions and the benefit of being on then varies a lot. The Consumer Council for Water has a page on help with bills including Social Tariffs:

https://www.ccw.org.uk/save-money-and-water/help-with-bills/

Ofcom can point people to similar set ups for Broadband.

Thanks for the links, looks helpful. This advisor said you sully need to contact the companies to find out about these tariffs as they are often not promoted publicly.

They advised in particular water bills could be significantly reduced.

Northumbria Water - 50% off bills if on low income (other qualifiers too).

BT Internet Social Tariff - £15pm

Register with local council for Household Support Fund - random payments of £75+ depending on type of household in my local authority.

Warm Home Grant is being extended, after being severely restricted the past few years. It is £150 and will now be paid automatically to people who qualify (you used to have to apply). It's taken off your fuel bill directly.

You're quite right about lack of publicity. A lot of people only find out about the schemes after missing payments and referred for assessment by the companies' debt management guys.

I spent three years employed part time doing assessments for Anglian Water's LITE social tariff scheme. Max discount was 80% although I think it's less now.

There are also a couple of other options that are better than Standard Tariff for certain groups such as those where health conditions mean usage is higher than would be expected.

Household Support is a good shout but it's administered locally by councils and eligibility/help offered varies widely.

I have medical equipment at home which relies on power but apart from the standard December free

Free december! I too have never heard of this. @InMyHealthyEra Which supplier are you with? Was this organised via the supplier, local authority or someone else?

I’m pretty sure they’ve gone away with that

I'm not sure what funding this was but the advisor managed to get payments from the CAB into our heating account of £50 four times a year as well.

Help to save seems still to be here

https://www.gov.uk/get-help-savings-low-income

Apologies they haven’t. I wonder if you can have two if you’ve already emptied one.

No I don't think so. However if in a couple you can have one each.

I've seen something about a cost of living payment in October anyone else?

Bt social tariff

severn trent big discount scheme

I think it is to do with gas/electric. I did see a link a while ago but it said it was not available yet.

Found it. Warm Home discount. It opens in October. https://www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme

Octopus are giving away free electric throws, one per household. They will also give a six month standing charge holiday, I find them very responsive and flexible. If you want to switch he's my referral code

https://share.octopus.energy/ideal-coral-136

Octopus are giving away free electric throws, one per household. They will also give a six month standing charge holiday, I find them very responsive and flexible. If you want to switch he's my referral code

https://share.octopus.energy/ideal-coral-136

Ofcom has broadband and mobile social tarrifs information: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/saving-money/social-tariffs Need to be on Universal Credit to access

Sorry should have said need to be on UC, Pension Credit or some other benefits

I’m moving from the UC broadband might seem a good deal but I had a fault with BT and they left me without internet for a month and wouldn’t give me any other way to get online as my package didn’t cover that apparently so it’s not always as good as it seems!

I think that community fibre looks like a good comparable deal.

No social tariff available for energy. (there are discussions going on about social tariff) but there are already social tariffs for water and broadband.

For elec/gas - prepayment is currently to cheapest way to pay for your energy. Once people get a prepayment meter they usually love it because you have control over your spend and also become more aware of what costs the most. Another thing you can do to help keep costs down is get a smart meter - I started spending less when I got mine because I could see what was costing the most. Your supplier can also send you energy saving tips. It’s worth calling them to find out how you can pay less or what other support they might be able to give you.