Money Box

A “staggering failure” is how one senior MP has described a government scheme designed to help nearly a million households with their energy bills last winter. Former SNP and now independent MP Angus MacNeil, who's Chair of Parliament’s Energy Security and Net Zero committee, has called on the government to reopen the scheme after a Money Box investigation reported that 750,000 eligible households have not received the £400 to help with their fuel costs and can't now apply for it. The Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding was launched in February to give the £400 to people who live in park homes, on narrow boats, in care homes, and travellers who had not automatically had the £400 which was sent to households with an electricity meter. In response, a government spokesperson said: "We spent billions to protect families when prices rose over winter, covering nearly half a typical household's energy bill – this includes more than £50m supporting 130,000 households without a domestic energy supplier".Wh