More than 400 charities, organisations and advisers have signed up to refer Scots struggling with their energy bills to a £4m support fund.
The Scottish Government scheme is being administered by Advice Direct Scotland, and ‘referral partners’ can still register to help clients hit by the cost-of-living crisis. The Home Heating Support Fund is open until 31 March.
Charities, housing associations, and community organisations which provide energy or debt advice, are encouraged to register online so that they can seek funding for people they support.
Targeted funding will reflect each individual’s circumstances, with extra support available for households where one person is over 75, living with a disability or illness, and/or living in a remote or island community.
Payments start at £100, rising to £1,000 to clear outstanding debt, with the money paid directly to suppliers on behalf of the household.
Eligibility is based on households which are ‘self-rationing’ their energy, meaning those who are deliberately limiting their energy use so that they can afford to spend money on other goods or services.
Payments can be for electricity, oil, gas, LPG, coal or other forms of heating, and are made directly to the supplier. Individuals cannot apply directly to the fund.
Andrew Bartlett, chief executive of Advice Direct Scotland, said: “Since launching the scheme, more than 400 referral partners have registered and we’re receiving hundreds of applications on behalf of their clients who are struggling with energy bills - this demonstrates the scale of the cost-of-living crisis.
“But we know there are more people out there who need support, so we encourage any charities, housing associations, or community organisations which provide energy or debt advice to register with us.
“This fund will prove absolutely crucial in ensuring that households who have been hit the hardest can continue to heat their homes and feed their families.”
Energy Secretary Michael Matheson has warned there is a “real risk” people could die in the months ahead with the country facing its highest hike in fuel bills yet.
There could be up to 900,000 homes in Scotland either in fuel poverty or extreme fuel poverty as a result of the increases in fuel costs.
His comments come after energy regulator Ofgem announced that bills will rise typically by £693 a year in the UK from April as it raised the price cap – a jump the Bank of England warned is set to create the biggest fall in living standards since comparable records began three decades ago.
Speaking on BBC’s The Sunday Show, Matheson described the UK Government’s measures in place to deal with the crisis ahead as “wholly inadequate”.
He said ministers south of the border have more control over “the tools needed” to prevent the poverty crisis from worsening.
“The action proposed by the UK Government last week is insufficient to deal with the scale and the nature of the crisis, which many individuals, particularly low income households, are now facing,” Matheson said.
“With the very serious increase we are now seeing in energy prices, it’s going to be compounded by the increase in National Insurance contributions and also with cutting Universal Credit.
“There is a real crisis building here, and it has been on the cards for some time now - there is a real risk that lives will be lost this year out of this financial crisis.”
Last week, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that all households will receive a £200 discount on bills from October, but that will have to be repaid over five years.
He said this will help reduce anxiety over the increase and take the “sting” out of the rise.
Matheson criticised the measure saying it will likely increase poverty due to households having to pay back a loan.
“They (UK Government) should move away from this £200 loan… and convert that to a grant because if fuel prices stay high over the course of the next couple of years, and that could be the case, it could actually end up forcing more homes into poverty because households are not only having to face high fuel prices, but they’re also having to face paying back the loan which the government has provided them with as well.”
He also urged the UK Government to extend the Warm Home Discount Scheme which allows households to apply for a £140 reduction on their electricity bill for winter 2021/2022.
Earlier, SNP MP Ian Blackford said the UK Government proposals to deal with the bill hike “won’t even scratch the surface and are nowhere near enough to help families cope”, and will leave them “hundreds or thousands of pounds worse off”.
But Greg Hands, the UK Government’s Energy Minister, disagreed, adding, “we are doing a lot”.
He pointed to the estimated £290m being paid from the UK Treasury to Holyrood and, the UK Government’s £200 discount for households in Scotland, which will have to be paid back over five years.
“On top of that, we’ve got winter fuel payments, the Warm Home Discount cold weather payments and the Household Support Fund,” he added. “There’s a lot going in from the UK Government.
“We recognise the difficulties that many households will be facing with a rise in prices.”
He said the UK is “not immune” to the rise in worldwide energy prices, but that the government is “doing a lot to make sure that households are in a better position”.
When asked if the £200 payment could be a grant, Hands defended the measure saying, “it is designed to assist people into the next winter to pay for those bills and will be clawed back over a five-year period, so that’s quite a long period of time that people will have a chance to repay that”.
Don't miss the latest headlines with our twice-daily newsletter - sign up here for free.
