Millions of elderly and disabled households are helped by energy bills

A prominent charity is calling for reduced energy bills for the elderly and disabled, because energy prices remain high.

Energy bills have almost doubled over the last 18 months, leaving millions of households struggling to afford soaring costs – with the average yearly bill now at £2,500.

Scope, a disability charity, has called for the government’s intervention to assist disabled people and their carers.

“Spiraling energy bills are worst for disabled people and elderly people,” the charity said on Tuesday.

“The government has offered support up until now that was insufficient and limited. We need long-term solutions. We need to move on from the past.”

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According to the Office for National Statistics, 55% of people with disabilities are having trouble paying their bills. This is compared to 40% in other households.

Scope, National Energy Action Scotland (Energy Action Scotland), Fair by Design and National Energy Action all agree that a “social tarif” is necessary in order to protect the vulnerable.

A social tariff would lower energy bills for low-income or vulnerable households and protect them against price spikes.

This would allow the cost to be recouped through taxation, or higher prices for customers. To protect vulnerable customers, water providers follow a similar procedure.

“In our view, this kind of targeted support should be automatically made available to those who need it including: people on means tested benefits, disability benefits, and carer’s allowance alongside those still struggling with their bills but missing out on support from the welfare system,” the charities said in a letter to chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

“It also allows for the elimination of unfair differences between different geoographies and payment types, which currently exist on the market to low-income and vulnerable households.”

The government has so far offered disabled people claiming benefits like personal independent payments (PIP) two £150 payments towards energy bills.

Unless a disabled person is a pensioner or on a means-tested benefit, they are not eligible for any additional government support – aside from universal support available to everyone, such as the £400 energy rebate.

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Scope’s demand for a social tarif comes after Hunt said in November that the Treasury was considering such an arrangement in the long-term. This is to help address high energy bills.

“What I said in my comments in the autumn statement is that, whilst we’ll be using that system this year or next year, from April ’24 we want to work towards a social tariff or social discount approach – whereby we reach all people equally on low incomes,” he told MPs at a Treasury committee in parliament.

“This requires a lot more complicated work to merge the HMRC information with the DWP benefits information. It’s a huge operational challenge but it’s the direction we want.”

The charity’s intervention comes as households are facing yet another difficult year. Projections show the UK faces the greatest drop in living standards in history.

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