Some people will not receive the £400 discount applied to gas and electricity bills that was announced last week. The measure, intended to ease the burden of energy bill hikes, will benefit some 28 million households across England, Scotland and Wales.
But those who are not directly responsible for paying their energy bills will miss out on the discount. For instance, renters whose energy bill is included in their rent will not receive it.
In these cases the discount will go to their landlords. While theoretically this should result in the renters being charged less, there is no way that can technically be enforced.
Some people who live in caravans will not directly receive the discount because most mobile home owners pay a fee to the owner of the park, which includes the energy they use. Similarly, those who live in boats normally pay a docking fee which covers electricity use, so they will not directly benefit from the discount either.
The £400 discount will be applied to bills from October and will be spread out across six months. The funds will be applied directly to the bill payer's energy account and will not come in the form of a cash payment.
Those who rent but pay their energy bills separately will receive the £400 discount. People who use pre-payment meters to pay for their energy will have the money added to their meter or paid via a voucher.
The Government has said equivalent help will be provided for people in Northern Ireland.
The discount was announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak as part of a £15 billion cost of living package. It is still only half of the £800 the boss of Ofgem warned its price cap will rise to in October.
The limit for those on default tariffs paying by direct debit rose to to £1,971 from £1,277 last month - an increase of £693. Jonathan Brearley, the chief executive of Ofgem, warned this could rise to £2,800 in October.
The price cap covers around 22million households. It is linked to wholesale energy costs, which are going up due to global supply issues and the war in Ukraine.
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