Energy Credit and Bereavement Support
Money Box
BBC
4.2 • 825 Ratings
🗓️ 28 October 2023
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Energy companies are holding on to too much of their customers' money in the form of credit on their accounts. That's according to Angus MacNeil, Chair of the House of Commons Energy Security and Net Zero committee. Money Box has uncovered the total amount of credit being held in the first three months of this year was £8.1 billion. Those figures are from the regulator, Ofgem. Energy UK, which represents energy companies says suppliers are obligated to set direct debits that are, over a 12 month period, estimated to result in a balanced account. It also told us at the time this £8.1bn was being held as credit prices were extremely volatile and the level of government help was unknown. It also said it's not meaningful to compare credit and debt.
Charities say new figures obtained by Money Box show that less than 1 in 4 bereaved parents who were not married have claimed a support payment they became entitled to in February. That was when the government changed the law to give cohabiting parents equal rights with parents who were married or in a civil partnership. The Department for Work and Pensions say it's telling bereaved parents about the backdated benefit via stakeholders, charities and a targeted media and social media campaign. More information on who can claim is available at: www.childhoodbereavementnetwork.org.uk/cohabiting
What you need to know about the self-assessment tax deadline on 5th October.
And, we'll also run through the changes to energy bills coming in on 1st October.
Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researchers: Sandra Hardial and Luke Smithurst Editor: Jess Quayle
Energy Credit 00:00 Bereavement Support 08:43 Tax Deadline 14:49 Energy Bills 16:32
(First broadcast, 12pm Saturday 30th September, 2023)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On a winter's night in 1974, a crime took place that would obsess the nation. |
| 0:07.0 | It was an extraordinary news story. |
| 0:09.0 | The story of an aristocrat, Lord Lucan, who's said to have killed the family Nanny, |
| 0:14.0 | mistaking her for his wife, then somehow just disappeared. |
| 0:18.0 | One of the great mysteries in English criminal history. We're still looking for |
| 0:21.7 | Lucan. It's honestly one of the most powerful stories of my lifetime. I'm Alex Fontunzelman. This is |
| 0:27.8 | the Lucan Obsession. Listen on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast. |
| 0:39.4 | From October 1st, the price cap on mains, electricity and gas bills in Britain falls by |
| 0:44.2 | around 7%, but some people won't pay less. |
| 0:48.6 | Thousands of people have still not claimed new backdated bereavement benefits for unmarried |
| 0:53.3 | parents whose partner died. |
| 0:55.9 | And if you've started a side hustle or earned over £50,000 in the last 18 months, |
| 1:01.2 | you may need to tell the revenue by Thursday. But first, Moneybox has discovered that energy |
| 1:06.6 | companies are holding on to more than £ billion pounds of their customers' money as credit |
| 1:12.1 | on their accounts. The figure from the regulator, OffGem, is the total amount of credit being |
| 1:17.0 | held in the first three months of this year. Dan Whitworth's got the figure and has the details, |
| 1:21.7 | Dan. Well, as you said, Paul, that 8.1 billion pound figure comes direct from the energy |
| 1:27.1 | regulator, OffGgem, covers the first |
| 1:29.2 | three months of this year, but it's important to put in context. For one thing, there are |
| 1:33.1 | tens of millions of domestic energy accounts across Britain. And secondly, Offgem was unable to |
| 1:39.0 | break down that number between households and businesses, although it did tell us it expects a majority of that credit to be from households. |
| 1:47.0 | And why are the energy companies hanging on to so much of people's money? |
... |
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