The British Gas Energy Trust : Help for people in fuel debt / pverty

 

 

The British Gas Energy Trust Organisational Grant Programme

This may be of interest to money / debt advisers / advocates

http://www.britishgasenergytrust.org.uk/

The British Gas Energy Trust is an independent Charitable Trust (and one of a number of grant-making schemes) managed by Charis Grants.

The Trust's objective is to help British Gas customers meet arrears of gas or electricity charges and other household bills and costs (example: beds, cookers, washing machines, fridges, boiler repair or replacement) by providing direct grants to individuals and families on a discretionary basis.

As a result of a £20m donation from British Gas in 2011, the Trust established a grant programme to fund specialist advice workers to deliver energy awareness and fuel debt advice across areas of high fuel debt in the UK.

This programme has now been extended for another 2 years with a further cash injection of £10m.

The assessment criteria are based on a priority of need, which takes into account the customer's financial circumstances, and the context within which the arrears arose (example: reduction in working hours or loss of employment, relationship breakdown, rise in cost of living, sickness/illness, unexpected birth of child or death of a partner).

The chances of a successful application rely heavily on the expertise and support of the trained fuel debt advisers, who will have to obtain the necessary referrals from both internal sources and external agencies.

In order to avoid unnecessary delays when submitting the application, the customer must supply:

• an actual meter reading taken on the date the application is submitted (not necessary for those on prepayment meters)

• copy of a recent fuel bill

• proof of income (dated within last 3 months)

The application process itself takes several weeks (8-10 weeks) to complete and the customer must continue to make payments for their ongoing usage during that time.

If an award is successful, the customer will have to wait another 2 years before re-submitting a new application; if the customer is unsuccessful, there is no right of appeal, but they can re-apply after 6 months (or less if there is a change of circumstances). They will be informed why their application has failed.

Whilst the primary focus is to complete and submit applications for British Gas customers, we will still be able to help non-British Gas customers i.e. EDF, Npower by referring them to their own utility trusts and schemes for help with fuel debt, energy efficiency, and tariffs.

N.B. A customer with any other supplier will be able to apply on the BGET application form.

 

 

 

 

Shalom

Greg Smith

Development Co-ordinator Together Lancashire / Preston Christian Action Network

Phone - Mobile 07726177044

Together Lancashire, registered office Church House, Blackburn BB1 5AA

Registered Charity no 1147848 Registered company no 07966145

Together Lancashire Website http://www.cuf.org.uk/together-lancashire

See also PCAN Website www.pcan.org.uk or and

BLOG http://prestonchristianactionnetwork.blogspot.com/ (you can sign up there to receive news and information updates by email)

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