British Gas increases support fund to £6m to help customers struggling with energy costs

31 March 2022

Sustainability

Jennifer Plews

British Gas today announces it is putting an additional £2 million into the Energy Support Fund to help its most financially vulnerable customers who are struggling to pay their bills.

The £6m British Gas Energy Support Fund, the biggest in the UK, has been set up in response to the increasing cost of living and rising inflation. Through the fund thousands of British Gas customers are provided with grants between £250 and £750 to help pay towards their energy bills.

Any British Gas energy customer with less than £1,000 in savings who is struggling to pay their energy bill is eligible to apply for a grant through the British Gas Energy Trust. Over 2,500 grants have already been given out with an average grant of over £550. Over a third of the recipients are on disability benefit and many are families – 30 per cent are single parents and a quarter have children under 5 years old.

"We hear from customers every day who are struggling with rising household costs and we want to do everything we can to support them during this difficult time. The extra funding adds to the financial support and advice we already offer and ensures grants will be available for our customers as we go through the year. I’m proud of the way our colleagues want to help our customers, and we want all of our customers to know they shouldn’t be struggling alone. In addition to helping as many as we can financially, we will also point them in the direction of the right debt services and support that provides them with longer term help."

Chris O'Shea, Chief Executive, Centrica

The company has a long history of supporting its customers in a number of ways financially and providing advice on how to make their homes more energy efficient to manage their bills. The British Gas Energy Trust delivers advice and support services for all consumers and last year provided almost £2 million of debt relief, emergency fuel vouchers, and grants to replace boilers, with several million additional funding provided to other organisations who offer advice and financial support.

NOTES

About British Gas

British Gas is Britain’s leading supplier of energy and services and the country’s biggest retailer of zero carbon electricity. We are part of Centrica, a company founded on a 200-year heritage of serving people. We provide energy and services to over 7 million UK homes and businesses, supported by around 7,500 highly trained engineers and technicians. We also offer a range of innovative products and services, including Hive and our on-demand digital trades service, Local Heroes. Our purpose of helping Our purpose of helping customers live sustainably, simply and affordably drives our strategy and our People and Planet Plan.

About British Gas Energy Trust

The British Gas Energy Trust (BGET), which incorporates the Scottish Gas Energy Trust, is an independent Charitable Trust established funded solely by British Gas. Since the launch of the Trust in 2004, over £78 million has been invested in helping over 170,000 people manage their energy costs. The Trust provides grants go up to £2,000 where exceptional vulnerability is evidenced and to be eligible, individuals must not have a household income of over £16,190 (excluding households with Carers, Disability, 3+ children) and they must have received help from a money advice agency.