Energy voucher warning as you could be missing out on £67 in bill help – how to claim

MILLIONS of households are missing out on vouchers worth £67 to help with soaring energy bills.

Up to one in five households did not redeem their energy support vouchers, issued in December before they expired.

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PayPoint sent out hundreds of thousands of vouchers at the start of December as part of a Government-backed scheme to help people with their rising energy bills.

But it revealed that only 83% of households redeemed these vouchers before they expired a week ago.

The vouchers are part of the Energy Bill Support Scheme (EBSS), which was announced by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last May when he was chancellor.

The scheme was set to supply £400 to each household in Britain.

The majority of the roughly 30million households who received the payment got their cash automatically in instalments.

But those on prepayment meters received discount vouchers or special messages via email, text or post.

The vouchers then needed to be redeemed at the nearest top-up point.

PayPoint corporate affairs and marketing director Steve O’Neill said: “If anyone has an unredeemed voucher which has expired, been lost or undelivered, they can ask their energy supplier to reissue it with a new three-month validity period.”

How will I get the vouchers?

If you’re on a traditional prepayment meter, you could receive the voucher in one of two ways.

Some customers will be given a redeemable energy bill discount voucher in the post.

Others will be sent a special action message (SAMs) in the first week of each month, issued via SMS text or email.

How do I use the vouchers?

To take advantage of the discount you’ll need to actively redeem the vouchers.

Customers will be able to do this at their usual top-up point.

This can be done at your local Post Office or a PayPoint Shop.

You should receive clear instructions on how to use and redeem the full value of these vouchers.

You must redeem the vouchers within 90 days of their issue date – if you don’t, you’ll have to get in touch with your energy firm and wait for a new voucher to be issued.

What happens if I miss the deadline?

Don’t panic – missing the deadline doesn’t mean that you’ve lost your £66 forever.

Even if the deadline passes, you can still get your voucher for October re-sent to you if you didn’t claim, or receive, it.

You need to call your energy supplier to ask for a new one.

But you should claim your voucher sooner rather than later to avoid the admin stress – and to get the vital help quicker.

Make sure all your personal details are up-to-date.

Your voucher may have been sent to the wrong email address or phone number, for example.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected]

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk