Help if you're struggling to pay your energy bills
If you're finding it hard to afford your energy bills, there are several things you can do that will help.
Talking about it with your supplier might feel like the last thing you want to do, but it's the best way to get set up with some help. You may also be able to speak to Citizens Advice directly.
Get in touch with your energy supplier to find out what it can do to help you keep up with your bills. Your options could include paying by monthly direct debit or signing up for a different tariff. Your provider may also be able to get you set up with access to its hardship fund. Read on to find out more.
For immediate help if you feel you are in urgent financial crisis, visit:
- Citizens Advice (0808 223 1133), which can give you free, independent advice on dealing with debt
- MoneyHelper (0800 138 7777) – a government-backed free source of money guidance
- National Energy Action (0800 304 7159) if you or someone you know cannot afford to heat their home
- Shelter (0808 800 4444) if you are worried about your immediate housing situation.
Are you worried about your finances?
For details of help available with shopping, broadband and other essentials, visit our cost of living guide.
What if you can't afford your energy bills?
If you miss an energy bill payment, your energy supplier won't disconnect your gas and electricity. But if you don't top up your prepayment meter, your supply might still stop.
Contact your energy supplier if you're struggling to pay, rather than cancelling your direct debit.
It must work with you to agree a payment plan that you can afford. Options vary between suppliers but you can ask for:
- a review of your payments and debt repayments
- a reduction in your payments or a payment break
- more time to pay
- access to hardship funds.
Try and agree a deal that works for both you and your supplier. You can also ask to be added to the Priority Services Register, which offers free help and support if you are in a vulnerable situation.
If you have a prepayment meter and can't top it up, contact your supplier to work out how to keep your energy supply running. Options it might offer include:
- giving you emergency credit
- allowing you to nominate someone to top it up for you
- adding a discretionary fund to your account
- sending you a pre-loaded top-up card.
Bear in mind that you'll eventually need to pay back any credit your supplier gives you.
Energy supplier payment plans
If you can't afford the higher bills you've been asked to pay, contact your supplier to explain your situation, and offer to pay an amount you can afford.
Energy suppliers must take certain steps before cutting off your supply. Your provider won't cut you off if you agree a regular payment plan and then stick to it. Usually a payment plan will cover what you owe plus an amount for your current use.
It should take into account:
- how much you can afford to pay
- how much energy you will use in the future.
Your energy supplier may need to ask about your income, debt and personal circumstances to work this out. It can estimate future energy use based on what you've used previously.
Send regular meter readings (if you don't have a smart meter) to make sure you're billed accurately.
See our guide to gas and electricity meters explained.
How to pay energy debt through your benefits
You might be able to pay off what you owe through your benefits using the Fuel Direct scheme. This takes a fixed payment automatically from your benefits to pay off your debt gradually, while paying towards your current energy use.
Find out if you're eligible for Fuel Direct and how to set it up.
You can get more help and information on using your benefits to make energy payments from Citizens Advice.
Paying energy debt with a prepayment meter
Pay-as-you go energy is one option for staying on top of your energy spend. Some energy suppliers might also ask you to have a prepayment meter installed if you don't keep up with your payments.
Prepayment meter customers have been subject to higher prices than those who pay by direct debit but in the Spring Budget on 15 March 2023 the Chancellor announced that, from 1 July 2023, they will no longer pay a premium. This will save them an average of around £45 per year.
Find out more about whether a prepayment energy meter is right for you.
Benefits and schemes to help pay energy bills
Government schemes and benefits that can help make your bills more affordable include:
- the Winter Fuel Payment – an annual tax-free lump sum towards winter energy costs for those aged 66 or over
- the Warm Home Discount – £150 off your bill if you get the guarantee element of Pension Credit. A broader group is also eligible, but the criteria vary between energy firms
- the Cold Weather Payment – this gives extra help with energy bills when temperatures are zero or below for seven consecutive days if you get qualifying benefits
- a grant to make your home more energy efficient, if you're eligible. Find out how the Energy Company Obligation could help you
- other benefits to help you keep up with bills and household expenses. Find out what help you might qualify for on the Gov.uk website.
There are also cost-of-living support payments to help households with increasing utility payments. Find out how support will be paid in 2023 and what you are eligible for in our guide to the government's 2023 energy help.
Help from energy companies
In 2021, many energy suppliers, including British Gas, Bulb, EDF, Eon, Octopus, Ovo, Scottish Power and Utilita promised to:
- promote available support better
- offer different ways of getting in touch if you're in financial difficulty
- make bills as accurate as possible
- install smart meters for prepayment customers as soon as possible.
Check your energy company’s code of practice to find out its policy on helping customers in difficult circumstances. Look in the help or FAQs section of its website, or phone the company:
- British Gas 0333 202 9804
- Bulb 0300 303 0635
- Eon Next (including former Npower customers) 0808 501 5200
- EDF Energy 0333 009 6992
- Octopus Energy 0808 164 1088
- Ovo Energy 0800 069 9831
- Scottish Power 0345 058 0002
- Shell Energy 0330 094 5800
- SSE 0345 070 7395
- Utilita 0330 053 5669
- Utility Warehouse 0333 777 3215
Many of the biggest energy companies also have independent charitable trusts that give grants to customers to help them pay for fuel arrears:
- British Gas British Gas Energy Trust
- Bulb Bulb Energy Fund
- Eon Next Eon Next Energy Fund
- EDF EDF Energy Customer Support Fund
- Octopus Energy Octo Assist Fund
- Scottish Power Scottish Power Hardship Fund
If you can’t get a grant from your own supplier, check whether you’re eligible for one from the British Gas Energy Trust. Its grants are available to anyone, even if you’re not a British Gas customer.
When you apply for any of these grants, you will have to provide detailed information about your financial situation.
Find out whether there’s anything else you need to do before you apply on the supplier or fund’s website.
Energy billing problems
Inaccurate and erratic billing can leave you in debt. If you get a large bill, but it’s the first one you’ve had in a while, contact your supplier.
It should be able to arrange for you to repay the debt over the same time that it was built up (rather than demanding a big sum immediately). For example if you hadn't had a bill for 10 months, you could get 10 months to repay it.
Energy suppliers can’t back-bill you for energy you used more than 12 months ago, as long as they were at fault – for example, by not sending a bill when you asked, or billing you incorrectly. Find out more about your rights on energy back-billing.
The only exception is if you have prevented your supplier from taking or receiving accurate meter readings – by tampering with your meter, for example, or refusing access to it.
Don’t wait for your energy supplier to get in touch. Contact it when you know there's a problem with your bills to stop a big debt building up.
More help with energy bills
If you're getting into debt trying to keep up with household bills, see our guide on how to deal with debt for practical advice. Other sources of support include:
- Citizens Advice (0800 240 4420) – it can give you free, independent advice on dealing with debt
- MoneyHelper (0800 138 7777) – a government-backed free money guidance source
- National Debtline (0808 808 4000) – offers free advice over the phone to people in England, Scotland and Wales
- StepChange (0800 138 1111) – a charity that gives advice to help people overcome debt problems.
Local energy grants
Go to your local council’s website to find out if it runs any schemes that you’re eligible for. You will find your council’s website through Gov.uk.
Visit the Help to Heat page on Gov.uk to find out if there are any additional grants you are entitled to. These include the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and Home Upgrade Grant.
Prepayment meter vouchers
If you can’t afford to top up your prepayment meter, you may be able to receive a fuel voucher. These are codes given to households via email, letters or text messages.
The vouchers can be used as credit on your gas card or electricity key. They are worth up to £49 of credit on your bills, and can be received by each household up to three times a year to pay for gas, heating bills or electricity arrears.
Fuel vouchers can be used at shops with PayPoint or Payzone as well as at a Post Office branch. You may have to use them within 15 days of receiving them or they may be valid for longer.
Your local council might be able to help you get a fuel voucher - find your local council on Gov.uk.
Royal British Legion grant
If you or someone in your household is a veteran, you can apply for a grant to help pay your energy bills through the Royal British Legion.
The charity launched a scheme to provide non-repayable emergency grants of up to £1,200 (£200 a month for up to six months) for veterans and their families across the UK.
The scheme is generally open to those who have served, or are serving, in the Royal Navy, British Army or Royal Air Force, alongside their families, dependants and carers, which can include children, current and former spouses and partners, widows and widowers. But even if you're not sure you're eligible, it's worth checking your eligibility on its website or by calling its helpline on 0808 802 8080.
If you're currently getting any means-tested state benefits, you should qualify for the Royal British Legion's grant automatically. But you could still be eligible for a grant even if you don't get any means-tested benefits.
If your application is successful, the exact amount and duration of funds you'll get will vary depending on your circumstances.
You'll get support in the form of one or more of the following: vouchers to top up your gas or electricity prepayment meter, a virtual credit card you can use to pay energy bills, vouchers for food, clothing or household products, or replacement white goods.