Housing associations demand targeted bill support

Leaders of 34 housing associations have called on government to provide targeted energy bill support this winter.

Sparked into action by Utility Week’s Action on Bills campaign, top bosses at many of the country’s leading housing associations have written a joint letter to government demanding extra support measures are put in place.

In total, the 34 associations provide homes for more than 1.5 million households. They include Riverside, Clarion, Places for People, L&Q and Peabody (see full list of signatories below).

In particular, the letter calls for three things:

• Provide more targeted support through the Energy Bills Support Scheme and Energy Bills Discount Scheme for winter 2023-2024 for those on low incomes and the 1.7 million households living in fuel poverty and are not registered for benefits
• Expand eligibility for the Warm Homes Discount to include households on heat networks and without a direct relationship with an electricity supplier this winter
• Extend the application deadline for Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding from 31 May until 31 December 2023 for people who are not on a domestic electricity connection or don’t have direct contact with a supplier to get an automatic payment

The letter has been sent to minister for energy consumers and affordability Amanda Solloway and minister for energy efficiency and green finance Lord Callanan.

It adds: “We would urge the Department [for Energy Security and Net Zero] to work with Ofgem and energy suppliers to protect hundreds of thousands of people this winter by extending support to those who need it most.

“These three changes would make a huge difference to support those most in need this winter. We look forward to hearing from you and discussing how the government can provide more targeted support to protect thousands of people who will struggle with their energy bills this winter.”

Last year Riverside commissioned an independent survey of their customers’ experiences during the cost-of-living crisis.

Researchers found that almost two-third of Riverside customers were struggling to pay their energy bills.

In total, 63% of customers said they struggled to pay their electricity bill and 60% had difficulty paying their gas bill.

Almost a third (31%) of customers said they were relying on the £400 government support through EBSS to cope with rising energy costs.

Carol Matthews, group chief executive of Riverside, said: “Last winter was a winter of hardship for millions of households on lower incomes who struggled to pay their energy bills. Analysis by organisations like Citizens Advice shows that many households ran out of money for their pre-payment meters and were left sitting in the cold and dark.

“The cost of the average energy bill is still expected to be 170% higher than the average energy bill for a British household in 2021. However, households could be saddled with even higher bills this year if we have a cold winter.

“To avert a similar financial crisis for households this year myself and fellow housing association chief executives are calling on government to work with Ofgem and energy suppliers to protect those who need it most this winter.”

Despite growing calls for energy bill support to be put in place, energy secretary Grant Shapps recently suggested that the government was unlikely to assist people with energy bill increases this winter.

In a recent interview with The Times, Shapps said: “We don’t want to be in a position…of having to constantly pay energy bills, because the answer — we’re having to tax people in order to pay it back to people — doesn’t actually mean that money doesn’t come from nowhere.”

In response, Peter Smith, director of policy and advocacy at the charity National Energy Action (NEA), told Utility Week that playing off the interests of energy billpayers against taxpayers over financial support is a “zero sum game”.

Last week, Conservative-leaning Centre for Policy Studies also called for stronger protections for the most vulnerable consumers, such as a social tariff.

Introducing more protections for the most vulnerable energy customers is a core element of Utility Week’s Action on Bills campaign, which is urging the government to introduce support this winter ahead of more targeted measures by April 2024.

The key asks of government are:

• A clear plan for targeted support on energy bills for vulnerable customers to be put out to consultation before the summer recess with a target of putting this into action by April 2024
• A revised Energy Bills Support Scheme to be brought in for next winter while a more targeted approach is being designed
• Defra to support social tariffs in the water sector through a clear funding commitment and a definitive stance on whether there should be a single social tariff

Full list of housing association signatories:

• Carol Matthews, group chief executive, The Riverside Group
• Ian Wardle, group chief executive, A2Dominion Group
• Noel Sharpe, chief executive, Bolton at Home
• Clare Miller, group chief executive, Clarion Housing Group
• Mike Parkin, chief executive, ForHousing
• Matt Harrison, chief executive, Great Places Housing Group
• Catriona Simons, group chief executive, The Guinness Partnership
• Andy Hulme, group chief executive, The Hyde Group
• Sasha Deepwell, chief executive, Irwell Valley Homes
• Yvonne Castle, group chief executive, Johnnie Johnson Housing
• Hilary Roberts, group chief executive, Jigsaw Homes Group
• Paul Fiddaman, group chief executive, Karbon Homes
• Fiona Fletcher-Smith, group chief executive, L&Q
• Debi Marriott-Lavery, chief executive, Magenta Living
• Glenn Harris, chief executive, Midland Heart
• Charlie Norman, group chief executive, MSV Housing Group
• Geeta Nanda, chief executive, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing
• Helen Evans, group chief executive, Network Homes
• Patrick Franco, chief executive, Notting Hill Genesis
• Bronwen Rapley, chief executive, Onward Homes
• Phil Andrew, group chief executive, Orbit Group
• Ian McDermott, chief executive, Peabody
• Greg Reed, group chief executive, Places for People
• Ian Reed, chief executive, Plus Dane Housing
• John Ghader, chief executive, Prima Group
• Amanda Newton, chief executive, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing
• Michael Birkett, group chief executive, Regenda Homes
• Sue Sutton, chief executive, Salix Homes
• Craig Moule, group chief executive, Sanctuary Housing
• Paul Hackett, chief executive, Southern Housing
• Helen McHale, chief executive, Stockport Homes
• Matt Forrest, chief executive, Thirteen Group
• Nick Atkin, chief executive, Yorkshire Housing
• Jacque Allen, chief executive, Your Housing