Householders will not able to refuse the Government’s repayable £200 energy rebate, the Government has said. The measure was announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in his Spring Statement as part of a package intended to deal with rising energy bills.
The rebate, which is in addition to the £150 non-repayable council tax rebate, will be given out in October 2022 and then recouped over the next five years. But a new petition says the scheme is flawed and is asking for the right to turn it down. More than 12,000 people have signed the petition so far, including people across the Midlands, with the highest numbers of signatures coming from Tamworth and Stourbridge. At 100,000 signatures, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament
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The petition, created by Sharron Espin, says: “Stop forcing people to accept a loan for energy without the right of refusal. This will put more strain on many financially and mentally. Make it fair for people and research a better payment plan that doesn’t discriminate against children leaving home and relationship breakdown
“They will make a lot of money by charging £40 per annum to every consumer even if that consumer didn’t have this £200 loan e.g. child at home goes to uni and now owes £200 they didn’t borrow as they were not the billed consumer at the time the loan was issued, ditto to relationship breakdown, both parties will be paying…
