Energy, heating and water support

The Household Support Fund is available to provide short-term financial support to help those who are struggling to afford the essentials this winter.

This fund is available until 31 March 2024.

Who can apply?

Households facing financial hardship can apply for a grant for help towards their food, energy and essential living costs.

How to apply for the fund

To enquire, or apply for support, please call Council on 01629 533399.

Find out more

You can find out more about the fund, eligibility and applying on the County Council's website.

Warmer Derby & Derbyshire provide free impartial advice and practical help to help people stay warm affordably, including:

• energy bill advice
• switching tariffs and suppliers
• accessing additional support
• support managing fuel debt

Find out more

www.mea.org.uk
Tel: 0800 677 1332
Email: wdd@mea.org.uk

The Warm Home Discount is a one-off £150 discount off your energy bill.

If your supplier provides you with both gas and electricity, you may be able to get the discount on your gas bill instead.

There are two ways to qualify for the Warm Home Discount Scheme:

• Core group 1: for people who get the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit.
• Core group 2: for people on a low income and who get certain means-tested benefits.

If you’re in either of these groups and qualify, you should have received a letter telling you how to get the discount.

Not all suppliers are part of the scheme. Check if yours is at:
www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme

Find out more about the Warm Home Discount Scheme

If you were born before 25 September 1957 you could get between £250 and £600 to help you pay your heating bills during winter. This is known as a ‘Winter Fuel Payment’.

The amount you get includes a ‘Pensioner Cost of Living Payment’. This is between £150 and £300. You’ll get this extra amount in winter 2023 to 2024. This is in addition to any other Cost of Living Payments you get with your benefit or tax credits.

You usually get a Winter Fuel Payment automatically if you are eligible and you get the State Pension or another social security benefit (not Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Child Benefit or Universal Credit).

Find how much you can get, and how to claim on GOV.UK.

Cold Weather Payments are one-off payments to help you pay for extra heating costs when it’s very cold.

You’ll get a payment if the average temperature in your area is recorded as, or forecast to be, zero degrees celsius or below over 7 consecutive days.

You’ll get £25 for each 7 day period of very cold weather between 1 November and 31 March.

You’ll only be eligible if you already recive one of these benefits:

• Pension Credit
• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Universal Credit
• Support for Mortgage Interest

You do not need to apply. If you’re eligible to get a Cold Weather Payment, you’ll be paid it automatically.

If you think you should have received a payment, but haven’t you can check on the gov.uk website below for your postcode.

Find out more about Cold Weather Payments on GOV.UK

If you’re in debt to your energy supplier, you may be able to get a grant from a charitable trust to help pay it off.

• British Gas Energy Trust - open to anyone
  The British Gas Energy Trust offer grants to clear domestic gas and electricity debts. These grants are open for anyone to apply for, you don't need to be a British Gas customer.

Other energy companies offer grants specifically for their customers, including:

• Scottish Power Hardship Fund
• Ovo Debt and energy assistance

When you apply for a grant, you'll be asked to provide detailed information about your financial situation. The Citizens Advice service may be able to help you with your application.

Some of these organisations may also ask for evidence of what steps you've already taken to try to manage your energy bills, such as speaking to Citizens Advice, or agencies like Turn2Us.

Many providers offer social tariffs to help people struggling to afford broadband or phone services.

What are social tariffs?

They are cheaper broadband and phone packages for people receiving Universal Credit, Pension Credit or other benefits. They may also be called ‘essential’ or ‘basic’ broadband.

They’re delivered in the same way as normal packages, just at a lower price. Find out more at www.ofcom.org.uk/social-tariffs

Severn Trent Water customers may be able to save up to 70% of your water bill by applying to their ‘Big Difference’ scheme.

Eligibility is based on your household income.

You can find more information and apply on the Severn Trent Big Difference website

Anglian Water have lots of measures in place for those who might be struggling to pay, from special tariffs to short-term support.

Reduced tariffs

Anglian water offer LITE and Extra LITE tariffs to customers on a low disposable income who are struggling to pay their water bill. Based on your individual situation you could get a discount of up to 50% on your water and sewerage charges by switching to one of these tariffs.

Find out more about these tariffs

Extra Care Support

Anglian Water also offer an Extra Care Support service – where they create a personalised plan for you to manage your water payments. This may include switching tariffs, setting up an affordable payment plan, a payment break (breathing space) or support through the Anglian Water Assistance Fund.

Find out more about Extra Care Support

Big Community Switch is a free scheme that could help you save money on your energy bills.

What is Big Community Switch?

Collective energy switching uses the bargaining power of a large group of people to get a competitive offer for you. Big Community Switch is coordinated by iChooser.

How does it work?

It’s a free service and open to anyone in the UK.

• They invite pre-vetted energy suppliers to an energy auction where they compete to offer you the lowest energy tariff.
• Suppliers bid against each other until they have the lowest bid.
• You’ll then be sent a personal offer. There’s no obligation to accept the offer
• If you do accept, and choose to switch energy supplier, they will handle the entire switching process for you.

The scheme runs continually with auctions several times a year.

How do you get involved?

To get involved, you’ll need to sign-up on the Big Community Switch website.

You’ll need to provide your contact details, the name of your energy supplier and details of your current energy usage and tariff.

Find out more on the Big Community Switch website

Scope offers a free energy and water advice service for disabled people.

Their expert advisers can help and talk you through a wide range of topics related to your energy and water needs, including:

• managing energy and water debt
• switching tariffs or supplier
• energy and water efficiency
• accessing benefits, grants, and trusts
• free fuel vouchers (conditions apply)
• contacting or complaining to your supplier
• understanding your gas and electricity bills
• support registering with the Priority Services Register

Apply online for personalised support:

www.scope.org.uk/disability-energy-support
Tel: 0808 801 0828
Email: Disability.EnergySupport@scope.org.uk

Storage heaters are designed to work with a two rate energy tariff, to make use of cheaper, overnight electricity.

Overnight they absorb and store up energy, which is then released to heat your home the following day.

It's important to get the settings right, otherwise you could be wasting power and money.

Each heater in your home works independently, so you'll need to set each of them.

And, if you find you're running out of heat during the day, you may need to store a bit more. Take a look at how to control your heater and how to use it most cost efficiently below.

Each heater has two controls: input and output.

Controlling the balance between the input and output will determine how much energy they use and how effective they are at heating your home.

Input:

• This controls how much energy you want to store up overnight.
• The numbers on the input control typically run from 1 (low) to 6 (high). The higher the number, the more energy your heater will store overnight, and the more electricity it will use.
• You’ll need to store up more energy during the winter nights, to make sure you’ve got enough heat to last throughout the next day. So, when it starts to get cold, keep the input dial at somewhere between 4 and 6.
• In spring and autumn, keep the input dial somewhere between 1 and 3. You won’t need the heating on as much during the day by then, so you don’t need to store up as much energy overnight.

Output:

• This controls how much heat you want to give out throughout the day, which will affect how quickly the stored heat is used.
• During the day, turn the output control up or down to heat your home as and when you need to.
• The higher you turn it up, the warmer it’ll feel. But by doing that, you’ll also be using up more of your stored energy.
• By gradually releasing heat throughout the day at a low setting of about 1 or 2, you should have enough to turn it up in the evening, when it’s usually a bit colder.

Boost:

Some storage heaters also come with a ‘boost’ setting, to give you an extra blast of heat if you need it. However, this may use more expensive peak-time electricity, rather than the energy stored in your heater from overnight.

You should adjust the controls throughout the year, to avoid using more energy than you need. Find out more about how to use your heater most cost efficiently below.

If you need any help understanding how to use your storage heater please get in touch by email or call on 0300 1234 009.