Not being able to afford to heat or power your home can be very worrying and stressful. It’s important to continue paying these bills and there's help available from your supplier if you’re struggling before you get into debt. Get in touch before you miss a payment and find out how they can help you as well as other ways to get back on track.
What’s in this guide
- What help can my supplier give me to keep up with energy payments?
- Support with energy supply and bills if you’re vulnerable
- How to find out who your supplier is
- Switch energy supplier
- Check if you’re entitled to extra government help
- Make sure you’ve claimed everything you’re entitled to
- Make an emergency budget
- If you’ve missed a payment on your gas or electricity bill
- What to do if your energy supplier goes bust
- When to get debt advice
- Extra support if you’re struggling financially and with your mental wellbeing
What help can my supplier give me to keep up with energy payments?
If you’re worried about missing gas or electricity payments, contact your supplier first. Your supplier has to work with you to agree a payment plan that suits you.
These include things like:
- reviewing your bill and agreeing more affordable payments
- giving you a payment break
- reducing how much you pay to give you a chance to catch up
- giving you longer to repay what you owe
- access to charitable grants or hardship funds.
Join our Facebook group
Join our private Facebook group to help give you new ideas to tackle debts and keep you motivated.
Support with energy supply and bills if you’re vulnerable
Your gas or energy supplier must give you extra support if you’re vulnerable. For example, if you:
- have a disability or long-term health condition
- have mental health needs
- have hearing or sight loss
- are pregnant or have children under the age of five
- are recovering from an injury or just released from hospital
- don't speak or read English well or have other communication needs
- have reached State Pension age.
There could be other reasons why you might be vulnerable, so if you’re not sure you can ask your supplier.
It’s a good idea to sign up to your supplier and network operator’s Priority Services register who look after your gas supply.
The Citizens Advice Extra Help Unit
If you’re vulnerable and having trouble with your bills, you can use the Citizens Advice Extra Help Unit. They can help with bill disputes or other problems paying your bill.
Here’s how to get a referral:
If you live in England and Wales
Call the Citizens Advice consumer helpline free on 0808 223 1133 Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.
If you have hearing loss, you can use Relay UK to call the consumer helpline using an app or textphone. Find out how to use Relay UK on the website.
To contact a Welsh-speaking adviser call: 0808 223 1144.
You can also fill in this online energy enquiry form
If you live in Scotland
You can use Advice Direct Scotland’s service on the energyadvice.scot website or call them free on 0808 196 8660.
Contact your local Citizens Advice
If you live in Northern Ireland
You can contact NI Energy Advice on the NI Housing Executive (Opens in a new window) website or call them for free on 0800 111 4455.
If you’re on a pre-payment meter
If you’re worried about topping up your pre-payment meter, read the guide You can’t afford to top up your prepayment meter on the Citizens Advice website.
It gives advice on how you can get temporary credit from your supplier and best ways to pay it back.
In Northern Ireland, you can get information about emergency credit if you’re on a prepayment meter at PowerNI (Opens in a new window)
How to find out who your supplier is
Find out who your gas or electricity supplier is, and their contact details, on a recent energy bill.
Find your supplier at UK Power Networks
If you live in Northern Ireland, go to NI Electricity Networks
Try contacting them online. If you don’t get a reply, it’s worth chasing it up.
Switch energy supplier
At the moment, switching energy company might not be the best way to lower your bills. Read more about what to do in our guide What to do if you’re worried about rising energy bills.
Check if you’re entitled to extra government help
Warm Home Discount Scheme
The Warm Home Discount can give you £150 off your electricity bills each year. If you’re on a low income and getting certain means-tested benefits – including Universal Credit – you might be entitled to it. The discount is not available in Northern Ireland, but you might qualify for help to make your home more energy efficientOpens in a new window
Warm Home Discount the discount can also be used for gas bills instead of electricity depending on your energy provider. Talk to your supplier to find out.
If you don’t qualify for the discount with your supplier, see if you can switch to one where you do. There's a list of suppliers at GOV.UKOpens in a new window
For most, the Warm Home Discount is automatically applied if you’re eligible. If you live in a park home, or in Scotland and qualify because of a low income, you’ll need to apply for it. There are more details about the warm discount scheme at GOV.UKOpens in a new window
To find out whether you qualify, you can call the government Warm Home Discount phone line on 0800 107 8002 between 14 November 2022 and 31 March 2023.
Find out more about the Warm Home Discount Scheme at GOV.UK (Opens in a new window)
If you live in Northern Ireland, you can apply for the Winter Fuel Payment on NIDirect (Opens in a new window)
Cold Weather Payment
If the weather gets really cold and you already get some benefits, you might qualify for cold-weather payments worth £25.
Find out more in our blog post Who is entitled to cold weather payments?
Winter Fuel Payment
Other government schemes to help you in 2022/23
Find out more about the government schemes that may help you, including the Energy Bills Support Scheme, in our guide What to do about rising energy bills
If you’ve reached state pension age you should also qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment of between £100 and £300. This should be paid to you automatically.
If you don’t receive the payment by 14 January 2022, you’ll need to submit a claim form. The deadline for doing this 31 March 2022.
Find out more about Winter Fuel Payment at GOV.UK (Opens in a new window)
Local help to pay energy bills
If you’re going without gas or electricity, your local welfare scheme might help with top-up vouchers.
Some foodbanks also give out voucher top ups if you’re on a pre-payment meter. You’ll need to be referred to a food bank first.
You can also get referrals to foodbanks through your local council and other organisations including:
- local advice centres
- your GP
- support workers
- police.
Local welfare help is given on a case-by-case basis.
- If you live in England, contact your council to see if they have a welfare assistance scheme. Find your local council at GOV.UK (Opens in a new window)
- If you live in Scotland, find out more about the Scottish Welfare Fund on the Scottish Government website (Opens in a new window)
- If you live in Wales, find out more about the Discretionary Assistance Fund on the Welsh Government website (Opens in a new window)
- If you live in Northern Ireland, you can find advice if you're stuggling to pay your energy bills on NI Direct (Opens in a new window)
- In Northern Ireland, if you’re experiencing an emergency fuel crisis, you might be able to get a one-off £100 payment from the Bryson Group (Opens in a new window)
Make sure you’ve claimed everything you’re entitled to
- First, to make sure you get everything you’re entitled to, check out our Coronavirus support hub.
- Also, to find out what extra help you might be entitled to, try our Benefits Calculator.
Is your household income getting squeezed?
If you’re facing higher living costs, but have little or no extra money coming in, find out about extra sources of income and support available to help you manage your household bills and save money in our guide Living on a squeezed income
Make an emergency budget
Budget Planner
To help you manage your money, use our free and easy-to-use Budget Planner
It’s worth looking at any ways you can cut the cost of your household bills, such as switching providers for your gas, electricity or mobile phone contracts.
If you’ve missed a payment on your gas or electricity bill
If you’ve only missed one payment and don’t have any other debts, talk to your supplier as soon as you can.
The websites below have advice on what you need to do, the action your supplier can take and why it’s important to clear any gas or electricity arrears as soon as you can:
What to do if your energy supplier goes bust
While it’s rare for a big energy supplier to go bust, lots of small energy companies have failed during 2021 and more could go under due to the high price of wholesale gas over the winter months.
Find out more about what your next steps should be in our guide What to do if you’re worried about your energy bills rising
If this happens, the ‘Ofgem safety net’ makes sure you aren’t left without energy.
The safety net moves you automatically to a new energy supplier, onto a new deal.
The deal is chosen using a competitive process and might be slightly more than your previous tariff. You can end your new deal or move to a different supplier whenever you want.
Find out more about what to do if your energy supplier goes bust at Ofgem (Opens in a new window)
If you owe money to a supplier that has gone bust
If you were in debt to your old supplier, then you will still have to pay what you owe but might have to pay it to your new supplier. Wait for your new supplier to contact you.
If you were in credit with your energy company, then the same applies: you will get the money back, but you should wait for your new supplier to contact you.
Find out more about what you can do if your account is in debt or in credit when your supplier goes bust, at Citizens Advice (Opens in a new window)
When to get debt advice
If you’ve already missed more than one payment can't come to an agreement with your supplier, it’s best to get advice as soon you can, especially if you’ve got other debts as well.
To help you work out which ones to pay off first, see our guide How to prioritise your debts
Need someone to talk to about your finances?
If you’ve missed more than one bill payment, you can talk to a specialist today, online or by phone, who will be able to help you start sorting out your financial problems.
Find free, confidential advice now using our Debt advice locator tool
Extra support if you’re struggling financially and with your mental wellbeing
Find help
If you’re feeling very low or suicidal because of your money worries, you need to talk to someone now.
Call 999 if you’re in immediate danger or give the Samaritans a call on 166 123
Having mental health issues might mean that you struggle to make the best money-based decisions for you, as well as act on them.
Find practical tips on how to manage financially and where to get free specialist help in our guide Money problems and mental wellbeing
Remember, if you’re struggling financially and with your mental wellbeing, it’s worth getting in contact with your bank, building society, lender or whoever you owe money to, to discuss your options.
However, picking up the phone and talking about your problems is often easier said than done when you’re struggling with your mental health.
To get practical tips on how you can talk to those you owe money see our guide on How to have a conversation about money
For some general tips on how you can manage your mental health check out Rethink’s guide It covers everything from setting a budget to getting help if you, or someone you care about, is having a mental health crisis.
