Energy bills are set to further increase in April when the cap set by the Energy Price Guarantee increases. A typical household in England, Scotland and Wales will see average annual bills increase from £2,500 a year to £3,000 a year.
Many major energy suppliers offer support including grants to help clear energy debt to their customers.
Struggling families may be particularly interested in the British Gas Energy Trust as the company offers support to all Britons regardless and there is no need to be a customer with the group.
People in England, Scotland and Wales can access the individuals and families fund, to clear an outstanding debt on a current or open gas, electricity or dual fuel energy account.
The account must be held in the person’s name or in the name of a person in their household. It must relate to their main residence.
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The support is only available to people who do not have savings over £1,000, and who have already received advice from a money advice group.
They must not have received a grant from the trust within the last two years to get a payment from the group.
Before applying, individuals are asked to check the Bounce Back Checklist, a tool on the trust website to help a person find out what support they can claim in benefits and cost of living payments.
Then they should speak to a local advice centre to get support for their situation and better understand what grants are available to them.
Once a family has gone through both these steps, they can then approach British Gas to see if they can get a grant.
The trust website says: “Some energy providers have their own customer trust fund, so check with your own supplier to see if they can support you first.”
The trust also offers grants through the British Gas Energy Support Fund, which is open to British Gas customers only.
A customer must have an energy debt between £250 and £1,500 and the debt must apply to their primary residence, on an active account.
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The fund is open to customers in England, Scotland and Wales and they must not have received a grant from the trust within the past 12 months.
Both prepayment and credit customers with a previous outstanding credit account debt can apply for the funds.
Other suppliers that also have grants available to help struggling customers include E.ON, OVO and Shell.
People who are struggling to pay their bills can also approach their supplier to come up with a payment plan to make their bills more manageable.
More Government support is on the way for Britons on low incomes as a £900 cost of living payment will be going out to Britons on certain means-tested benefits over the coming financial year.
The money will be paid in three instalments of around £300 with the first instalment in spring 2023.
Many benefits are also increasing by 10.1 percent from April, including Universal Credit, PIP and Pension Credit.
State pension payments are also going up by 10.1 percent, with the full basic state pension increasing from £141.85 a week to £156.20 a week while the full new state pension is going up from £1851.15 a week to £203.85 a week.
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