Are you getting £100 off your energy bills this Winter?
In the Chancellor's budget it was announced that homes in Council Tax Band A-D will receive £100, paid directly into their bank accounts (if paying by direct debit at least), which go some way to absorbing the shock of the forthcoming Ofgem Price Cap rise in January, but in the context of energy bills being expected to stay above or close to £2,000 for the whole of 2027, it's not a lot in the grand scheme of things.
Now, for context, in April 2022, then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak launched a very similar council tax rebate scheme, but offered households £150 (£50 more) when the price cap approached £1,971 per year. So if you are to compare the two, in 2022 you received a payment roughly equivalent to 7.6% of your typical energy bill (£1,971), where as this new scheme only offers 4.6% (£2,161).
I feel that far from annoucing this as a brand new intiative that offers real support, the Chancellor and government have fallen a little short with this one - had they maintained the equivilant 7.6% for example, you'd have been recieving £164, but these are very difficult times with government debt spiralling and things getting tougher and tougher.
My home is outside of the A-D council tax bands, which means I won't be receiving the payment, so you'll have to let me know if it all runs smoothly for you. I hope that it does, and I'll be making sure I keep you up to date right here on my blog with any developments I pick up on around this policy, and any further support that the government may be offering.