It is “totally unacceptable” that discounts on energy bills for poor households over the winter may not arrive until May, a senior Labour MP has said.
Shadow health minister Justin Madders criticised E.ON for delays in getting their warm home discounts out to customers, with many set to face higher bills over the colder winter months.
The scheme administered by E.ON uses information from the Department for Work and Pensions to offer rebates to customers at risk of fuel poverty.
In the Commons, Ellesmere Port and Neston MP Mr Madders said: “My constituent, Mr Singleton, approached me recently because he’d been told by his energy supplier E.ON that his warm home discount payment would not reach him until May.
“Happily, we have now got assurances that his payment will be received earlier.
“But E.ON have said that other customers may still not get their payments before May 31 2017.
“When we have such issues with fuel poverty, it’s totally unacceptable that these payments are being delayed for so long.”
Mr Madders raised the issue at Business questions, with Commons Leader David Lidington saying he hoped E.ON did “whatever they can to speed up those payments”.
He added: “One reason for welcoming the ability of customers to switch between different suppliers is that it does enable people to move their energy accounts around, to suppliers which they believe will provide them with a better and speedier service.
“I hope that the company will take note of the case that he has described, which I suspect may apply to a lot of other people as well.”