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More than £7 billion from the Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) has been provided to 98% of eligible households, with January seeing a record number of prepayment meter (PPM) vouchers redeemed.
The latest figures from the government show 1.7 million PPM vouchers were redeemed in Great Britain last month, 130,000 more than in December. So far £530 million has been provided to households who have redeemed vouchers to use with traditional PPMs.
To date 76% of all EBSS vouchers have been redeemed but there remain concerns that around 1.9 million vouchers are yet to be used by consumers.
Suppliers have previously been heavily criticised by ministers over low redemption rates, with fears vulnerable consumers were missing out on support.
Redemption rates across retailers now range from 68% to 87%, with E Gas & Electricity and Octopus Energy, whose traditional PPM customers redeemed 87% and 85% of their vouchers respectively, the best performing suppliers.
The five suppliers with the largest number of PPM customers – British Gas, Eon, Ovo, EDF and Scottish Power – all showed an increased number of voucher redemptions, although some remained among those with the lowest rates overall.
| Supplier | Total number of vouchers delivered to traditional prepayment customers
|
Total number of vouchers redeemed
|
| British Gas | 1,817,730
|
1,368,160
|
| Eon | 1,628,470
|
1,325,960
|
| Ovo | 1,356,560
|
1,023,740
|
| EDF | 993,250
|
727,790
|
| Scottish Power | 1,172,700
|
802,230
|
While redemption rates improved overall across the regions, there is a lack of take up in London (58%), Scotland (68%) and the South East of England (69%).
Redemption rates in all other regions are now above 70%, with Yorkshire & Humber and the North East of England having the highest overall rates at 75% and 74% respectively.
Energy security secretary Grant Shapps said: “The help we’ve put in place means we are covering around half of most households’ energy bill this winter – this is an unprecedented level of support.
“With January temperatures having dropped to as low as -10 degrees in some parts of the country, I am pleased to announce today a record number of households taking up the government support.
“But many households are yet to redeem the vouchers they are entitled to and I want energy companies to redouble their efforts to get the support to those who need it.”
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