Include off-grid households in Government £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme.

Today the National Bargee Travellers Association attended a meeting with the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) to discuss the practical issues of how the Energy Bills Support Scheme £400 grant can be made available to boat dwellers and other off-grid households. The method of getting the grant to our communities is still being designed by the Government. The meeting was hosted by the charity Friends, Families and Travellers, which has been lobbying its Government contacts to ensure the grant is made accessible to people living off-grid.

Public meeting planned

An online public meeting 'Include off-grid households in Government £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme' is planned for Tuesday 6th December in the evening. More details will be released later.

Please write to MPs if you can. If you are living, travelling or moored in any MP's constituency, even for a few days, that MP is your MP! See www.writetothem.com

Petition hand-in plans - Watch this space!

We had hoped to hand the petition in early next week, but this is not looking feasible, as central London is unlikely to be back to normal the day after the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

We are hoping to organise handing in the petition later next week, but we may have to wait until mid-October, as Parliament will be in recess for three weeks after 22nd September.

Please keep sharing the petition – we now have over 2,000 signatures, maybe we can make it 3,000! Thank you to all who have signed, shared and promoted this petition and to those of you who have written to MPs.

In the announcement about UK energy costs today, 8th September 2022, Prime Minister Liz Truss said ".... for those using heating oil, those living in park homes or those on heat networks, we will set up a fund so that all UK consumers can benefit from equivalent support." We will need to make it crystal clear to the PM that "all UK consumers" must include off-grid households who live in boats, vehicles and caravans.

In Prime Minister's Questions today, 7th September 2022, Liz Truss said: "We need to make sure we are looking after everybody in this very, very difficult winter that we are facing". Let's ensure the new Prime Minister makes good on that promise.

The petition is now addressed to the new Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, who was appointed yesterday, 6th September 2022.

We don't like having to tell people they don't qualify

The National Bargee Travellers Association (see www.bargee-traveller.org.uk), which started this petition, has received many enquiries from boat dwellers about how they can claim this grant. It has been disappointing to have to tell people who are obviously very worried about the coming winter that we don’t know. The huge increase in the cost of all types of cooking and heating fuel is affecting off-grid communities just as much as the settled population. Please keep signing and sharing the petition.Thank you!

CRT concerned about exclusion of boat dwellers from energy bills support

Thanks to all of you who wrote to MPs. An MP’s reply shows that the UK’s biggest navigation authority, Canal & River Trust (CRT) is concerned:
"...I have received the below from the Chief Executive of CRT:
Thank you for contacting me about this concern, which we share. I can confirm that we have raised this with both DLUHC and BEIS. The most recent response we received from the 'Energy Bills Support Scheme' email address in BEIS in June was:
"We have received correspondence from boat residents recently, so we are aware of this. We know that not all households have electricity provided through a domestic electricity supply contract … we are exploring options for other ways in which they might receive similar support”.
… I hope that this helps to prompt a response from BEIS as I am sure liveaboard boaters will be increasingly anxious given current headlines about rising energy costs as we head into the autumn.”

Good news, Government is aware of 400,000 households who don’t qualify

We have discovered that a Government consultation on the proposed scheme ran from 11th April to 23rd May 2022. However, no organisations that represent boat dwellers, Travelling communities or other people living off-grid were invited to respond, nor were they aware of the consultation. The good news is that the Government is aware of 400,000 households who don’t qualify for the scheme. The consultation findings, published on 29th July 2022, state:

“Households without a domestic supply contract

Evidence suggests at up to 400,000 would not receive EBSS support due to these circumstances … An announcement with details on how and when these households across Great Britain can access this support will be made this autumn.”

See https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1096205/energy-bills-support-scheme-government-response.pdf