Our latest press release
This month, new Prime Minister Liz Truss unveiled a new measure to support people and businesses with their energy bills.
From 1 October a new and automatic ‘Energy Price Guarantee’, which limits the price suppliers can charge customers for units of gas, will mean a typical UK household will pay up to an average of £2,500 a year for their energy bill for the next two years. This will save the average household at least £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October.
Truss said businesses and public sector organisations will see equivalent support over the winter, and the action is expected to deliver “substantial benefits” to the economy-boosting growth.
In a similar way to households, the government has vowed it will take action against the rising energy costs in the latest mini budget with a predicted £60bn package to support businesses by limiting the unit price of electricity and gas.
In addition to the new energy scheme introduced by Truss, there is also a £400 discount on bills for all households over the winter.
All UK households will get a grant from October, meaning everyone’s energy bill will be cut by £400. This will be applied over six months with a reduction of £66 in October and November and £67 every month between December and March 2023.
Recognising the increasing demand for a quick, easy and secure cash dispensary solution, Eastbourne-based security print firm Zunoma is working in partnership with the Post Office to offer its Payout and Payout NOW! services for vulnerable customers.
The Payout services offer a fast-track way for energy providers to assist vulnerable customers who are struggling with the energy crisis. It will enable hundreds of thousands of energy customers to redeem temporary relief funding or receive an alternative cash grant to help offer support to pay any outstanding bills.
The service helped 215,000 individuals in November and December 2021 alone and the scheme has recently been introduced to help support Ukrainian refugees arriving in the UK.
Funded by the government, the discount is sent directly to energy suppliers to pass on to domestic customers from October 2022. A unique, one-time use barcode is generated by Zunoma and will be shared with the customer through their energy supplier, to be used within a 24-hour to three-month period.
Dinah Ouzman, Director of Strategy at Zunoma, said: “The rise in energy prices and cost of living is affecting people throughout the country.
“We are proud to partner with the Post Office and can say that our platform has already helped over 18.3 million individuals across 11,500 Post Office branches nationally. Customers can still reap the rewards of instant access to cash with Payout funds.”
Zunoma has created a whitepaper collating details about the emergency one-off payments and repayments for customers, and how it has been used by local authorities and energy sectors so far. It is free to download here: https://www.zunoma.com/payout-whitepaper/.
For more information about the energy bill support for individuals and businesses, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-bills-support.