British Gas customers hit by delays in receiving £66 energy grants

British Gas customers have been hit by delays in receiving the emergency £67-a-month energy grants promised by the Government — just as temperatures have plummeted.

Those calling the supplier’s helplines to chase the vital payments on Monday were being warned of waiting times of up to 20 hours to speak to someone.

British Gas insists this was an error and wait times were lower. But yesterday people were still waiting up to an hour-and-a-half to get through.

Cold snap: British Gas customers have been hit by delays in receiving the emergency £67-a-month energy grants – just as temperatures have plummeted.

Some customers say they are unable to top up prepayment energy meters as they are yet to receive December’s £67 grant — leaving them struggling to stay warm.

In other cases, customers say they are also waiting for the £66 cash injections from October and November (monthly payments are £67 from December). British Gas insists it has made these payments.

Baroness Ros Altmann, a former pensions minister, says: ‘For older households, the consequences of being left with no money to top up their meters can be life-threatening.

‘And leaving customers waiting on the phone is outrageous. I’m worried people will literally freeze to death.’

Ed Miliband, shadow climate secretary, says: ‘It is shameful that customers are being left to wait for hours by energy companies and not getting the help to which they are entitled. Energy companies have a responsibility to deliver for their customers, and if they are failing in this then the regulator and the Government must step in.’

A Money Mail investigation found that customer service at British Gas has gone into meltdown as it tries to process the vital winter payouts to households.

The £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme payments are supposed to be split into six monthly instalments, starting in October and ending in March.

Customers using direct debits should have the payments applied to their accounts automatically. But those with traditional pay-as-you-go prepayment meters receive them as vouchers through the post from their energy supplier.

British Gas insists all of its October and November grants have been distributed. But it could not confirm all December payments had been made as of last night. Other energy suppliers — including Octopus and E.On — claim they had sent out all December payments.

On hold: Some customers calling the British Gas helpline to chase the vital cash payments were on Monday being warned of waiting times of up to 20 hours to speak to someone

An automated message on one British Gas helpline said pay-as- you-go customers may be late in receiving their vouchers because of Royal Mail strikes.

According to a Money Saving Expert survey last week, more than 31 pc of British Gas customers with prepayment meters had yet to receive October or November’s grant. Dozens have complained to Money Mail about the delays or taken to social media.

One said she had just a single day’s worth of energy left on her account — and had still not received December’s credit.

The 37-year-old, who is on a prepayment meter and lives with her disabled partner, says: ‘I really don’t know what we’re going to do after that. I’m going to have to go to a pawn shop I think.

‘They’re completely ignoring me. I’ve tweeted them, I’ve been on Facebook, I’ve been on their web chat which doesn’t work, and there’s a 14-hour wait just to call them. It’s like getting blood out of a stone.’

All British Gas customer service numbers seemed swamped with callers at the start of the week.

At 9.50am on Monday, we tried to ring the supplier’s helpline specifically for prepayment meters and were told we could expect to be on hold for up to 20 hours and 34 minutes.

Less than an hour earlier the wait time was up to nine hours and 21 minutes. Later, the message was altered to say operators were experiencing a high volume of calls and customers should only stay on the line if it was an emergency.

Delays: Some customers say they are also waiting for the £66 cash injections from October and November but British Gas insists it has made these payments

On Tuesday, the wait was back down to about 45 minutes. But our reporter spent one hour and 36 minutes trying to get through.

A separate helpline dedicated to taking top-up payments from prepayment meter customers was unavailable on Monday and the service was no longer available on Tuesday.

Money Mail also attempted to contact the firm’s ‘livechat’ service on Monday and received a reply saying no agent was available to speak to us.

Prepayment meters — which work as a pay-as-you-go service —tend to be used by more vulnerable households. If customers cannot afford to top it up, their electricity and gas will be switched off automatically.

With a smart meter, these payments can be made online via an app. Households with traditional prepayment meters can use a keycard which is topped up in post offices and PayPoint zones in shops.

Keith Hammond, 47, had to take the day off work as he desperately tried to get through to British Gas to query his bill.

The father of four, from Durham, says: ‘I’m angry. I haven’t got time to waste.

‘It’s cost me a day off work today just trying to get through to these people.’

The £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme payments are supposed to be split into six monthly instalments of £66, starting in October and ending in March

Kieran McGuire, who lives with his six-months pregnant partner, has not received payments for October, November or December.

The 32-year-old, from Manchester, is on a prepayment meter and spent four hours on the phone to British Gas on Monday.

He says: ‘It feels like a wild goose chase. It’s not British Gas’s money. It’s money that they have been given by the Government to dish out.

‘This week it has been freezing. Why am I questioning turning the heating on when they have £200 worth of vouchers they should be paying us?’

British Gas says the 20-hour wait time that its phone line was predicting on Monday was an error and that the actual wait time was much lower.

A spokesman says: ‘The average wait time on Monday morning, which is our busiest time, was 30 minutes and it was exceptionally busy due to the cold weather.

‘We have now also fixed a fault with our line which was giving inflated and therefore incorrect call wait times — the actual call wait times are much lower.

‘We don’t always get everything right and are getting in touch to resolve any issues with individual customers.

‘All the October and November payments have been issued for the Government Energy Bill Support Scheme and our teams are working hard to deliver this to millions of customers.

‘If for any reason a customer hasn’t received it, our advice is to get in touch with us and we’ll resolve it as quickly as possible.’

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This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk