Energy crisis outrage as one million discount vouchers went unclaimed during cold snap

People on direct debit accounts receive the monthly discount automatically, without them having to do a thing. But prepayment meter customers, many of whom are vulnerable and are on low incomes, must redeem vouchers at their local top-up points. 

However, a vast number of Britons have not received the vouchers in the post this month, meaning an eye-watering amount of cash has gone down the drain. According to the firms where prepayment customers can cash in the vouchers, postal strikes may have triggered a delay to some deliveries.  

In the UK, around two million energy customers are on prepayment meters. Three quarters of the eligible people are supposed to receive their vouchers in the post, while the remaining quarter get them via email or SMS. These can be redeemed at people’s local post office or cashed at shops that are in the PayPoint network, with around half redeemed at each.

But Paypoint said that in Ocotber, only 80 percent of vouchers were redeemed, plunging to 73 percent in November. For December, a shocking 27 percent of vouchers were cashed at PayPoint stores by December 18. 

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1712968/energy-crisis-bills-discount-prepayment-meter-cold-snap