The UK Government has opened the £200 Alternative Fuel payment (AFP) online application portal allowing off-grid energy users to claim crucial financial support to help with heating payments. The vast majority of eligible households using oil, coal, LPG and biomass will not need to take any action to receive the support, but a small proportion will need to apply for it.
Off-grid users should have seen the £200 credit added to their domestic electricity account by their provider last month, however, those without a direct connection to their supplier must apply on the GOV.UK page.
To help reduce the chance of fraudsters exploiting the scheme, we will not link directly to the dedicated page, but instead to the home page on GOV.UK. From there, select ‘Find out about help you can get with your energy bills’ and you will see the £200 Alternative Fuel payment halfway down the page with a link to the short online application form.
In order to identify households that are eligible for the Alternative Fuel Payment, the UK Government has produced a list of eligible Meter Point Administration Numbers (MPANs) and told electricity suppliers to pay those customers.
MPANs are unique codes assigned to everyone’s electricity supply.
The UK Government determined if an MPAN was eligible by taking a list of all domestic MPANs and removing those which are in on gas grid postcodes or where the local area predominantly uses electricity for heating, as defined by the most recent Census in their area.
Eligibility for £200 payment
If you use alternative fuels for heating you may be eligible for a £200 Alternative Fuels Payment if both the following are true:
- your household is not connected to the mains gas grid
- you use alternative fuels as your main form of heating
This £200 payment is on top of the £400 from your electricity supplier.
You are eligible for this payment if the main way you heat your home uses:
- tank or bottled gas
- liquid petroleum gas (LPG)
- oil
- wood
- solid fuel
Eligible homes
You may be eligible to apply if you use alternative fuels for heating.
Your main home must also be:
- in a residential park home
- on a boat on a permanent residential mooring
- on a permanent Gypsy and Traveller site
- part of a heat network without an electricity meter
- in social or private rented accommodation which has a business energy connection or a communal electricity supply
- off the mains electricity or gas grid
- part of a business property (such as a farm or a flat above a shop)
Who cannot apply
You also cannot apply if you live:
- in purpose-built student accommodation
- in a care home
- on a boat as a continuous cruiser (currently under review)
- on a non-permanent caravan or mobile home site (currently under review)
- in accommodation provided by your employer (such as seasonal workers, ‘service occupiers’, security guards, building caretakers
- in a building where you are acting as a property guardian
- in business premises, such as a pub or hotel, where your address is the same as the business address
Full details about the £200 Alternative Fuel payment can be found on GOV.UK here.
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