People using prepayment meter are being urged to reapply for energy support vouchers after it emerged that one in five households did not redeem their £67 December Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) top-up before they expired. PayPoint sent out hundreds of thousands of vouchers at the start of December as part of the UK Government-backed scheme to help people with their rising energy bills over winter.
But it recently revealed that only 83 per cent of households redeemed these vouchers before they expired in March. However, despite the shortfall, PayPoint said this was an improvement on the previous months, as only 81 per cent of vouchers had been redeemed in October and November before they expired.
The latest figures published in March indicate that in the first five months of the scheme, 78 per cent of issued vouchers were redeemed, leaving a shortfall of over 20 per cent.
However, anyone who has not used their voucher, or received one either by text message, email or post, can contact their supplier and ask for it to be re-issued. The vouchers will be valid until the end of June. It had been hoped that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt would have announced an extension to the scheme, but this did not happen.
However, he did confirm that the £2,500 Energy Price Guarantee would not rise as planned in April to £3,000 and will remain at that rate until the end of June. This was largely attributed to a campaign led by consumer champion Martin Lewis and backed by over 130 charities and organisations.
PayPoint corporate affairs and marketing director Steve O'Neill said: "EBSS redemptions are still at a level we would expect compared to similar Government schemes, such as the Warm Home Discount.
"However, a recent survey commissioned by PayPoint showed that 15 per cent of people had still never heard of EBSS, which is no doubt contributing to some vouchers going unredeemed. If anyone has an unredeemed voucher which has expired, been lost or undelivered, they can ask their energy supplier to reissue it with a new three month validity period."
He continued: "While it is very rare for these schemes to hit a 100% redemption level, we must do everything we can to make sure that people across the UK are aware of EBSS or get vouchers reissued if needed. For PayPoint and our 28,000 retailer partners, the top priority is simply to see as many people benefit from EBSS as possible."
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