British Gas customers get £2,000 paid into accounts from Wednesday | Personal Finance | Finance

British Gas customers will be able to claim up to £2,000 of payments into their energy accounts from this Wednesday.

The gas and electricity giant is reopening its British Gas Energy Support fund on Wednesday, October 1, offering up to £2,000 per household of support for both credit and prepayment meter customers struggling to pay their bills or catch up with energy debt.

It comes as energy bills increase another 2% on Wednesday as Ofgem increases its price cap from £1,720 per year for a typical use household to £1,755, just in time for winter.

The British Gas Energy Support Fund, which is an independent charity, says only customers who have attempted to get guidance or advice for their energy debt are eligible to apply. It will then take six weeks for your application to be processed, and the payment will then show up on your energy account as a bill credit.

You must be a British Gas customer and not have received a grant from the fund within the last 12 months.

You also need to have between £50 and £2,000 of debt if you’re a pre-payment customer, or £250 to £2,000 if you’re a credit account customer (for example if you pay by direct debit).

Those with more than £2,000 of debt will be declined. 

The fund says on the British Gas Energy Trust’s website: “Please note that the British Gas Energy Trust is interested in funding applications where the applicant can show a sustainable position moving forward. 

“We believe that it is rarely in the person’s best interest to seek a debt write-off, without dealing with the underlying problem of a deficit budget, due to this deficit budget’s will only be considered in exceptional circumstances, there is some allowance for marginal exceptions.

“Please note where clients would be eligible for a bankruptcy or DRO (Debt Relief Order), we expect this to have been explained to the client. Clients who are eligible for a DRO may not be successful in their application, as there may be an alternative route to managing their debt.

“The Trust expects that the money advice service [that] has supported the applicant, has ensured that all advice given and action taken by their agents or appointed representatives a) has regard to the best interests of the applicant, b) is appropriate to the individual circumstances of the applicant and c) is based on a sufficiently full assessment of the financial circumstances of the applicant.”

To apply, go to https://bget.org.uk/login.php from Wednesday.