Print out our template letter to sign & deliver to your landlord, asking for this payment to be passed on, or failing that a detailed explanation as to why they have failed to do so.
Download the Template Letter Here (PDF Version)
What is the scheme?
The payment is made up of the Energy Bills Support Scheme (£400) and the Alternative Fuel Payment (£200) and will be provided by the UK Government via electricity suppliers.
The payment scheme will run from the 16th January to 31st March 2023. Occupier will receive the support in one of 2 ways:
- Customers with a domestic electricity meter point and a domestic electricity supply contract will receive the payment automatically from their electricity supplier.
- If you’re a direct debit customer, £600 will be deposited directly into your bank account between 16 January and 28 February 2023.
- If you don’t receive the payment, please wait until after 28 February to contact your supplier.
- If you pay through a prepay (keypad) meter our voucher will be in the form of a letter containing a barcode, addressed to ‘the Occupier’.
- You do not need to get it updated to the named account holder. If your landlord is the named account holder, but you top up the keypad meter yourself, then you are the intended recipient.
- The payment is to support energy costs for the household.
If you pay for your electricity as part of your rent
Your landlord may be reselling the electricity to you based on your usage, in which case they must comply with the regulations which require third party intermediaries such as landlords to pass the support through in a just and reasonable way to end users such as tenants.*1
How this effects students?
Many students, when at university rent out rooms in HMOs (House of Multiple Occupancy) in the private rental sector. This would mean that most students likely pay their electricity and heating through prepay (keypad) meters topped up either by the tenants themselves or by the landlord.
In some cases, students may be renting a property in which their rent is ‘all-inclusive’, with a stipulated allotment for energy and heating laid out in the tenancy agreement.
Under the official guidance set out by NI EBSS, the student, as the occupier, is entitled to this voucher.*2
The Issue
Through UUSU’s communication with local letting agents, they (the letting agents) stated that it is the responsibility of the landlord to decide whether or not to pass this voucher on to the occupiers. This has created a situation where landlords stand to benefit from a cost of living measure designed to alleviate the financial pressure of heating homes, without any clear communication with their student renters on how/why this is the case.
Suggested Actions
- To design a template letter for our students to print out and sign, that can be delivered to the landlords, asking for this payment to be passed on, or failing that a detailed explanation as to why they have failed to do so. Download the Template Letter Here
- Official Housing Rights advice: “With that £600 payment (the student) has to officially write to (their) landlord requesting it if it doesn't get paid out (they) can take to small claims court or if (they’re) in private rental then come back to us and ask about mediation”
Support
Support is available from Housing Rights, who can be contacted by phone: 02890245640, or online, https://www.housingrights.org.uk/
Support is also available from UUSU’s Advice Bureau, who provide support on a range of issues including housing, information on housing support is available here: https://www.uusu.org/advice/housing/
*[1] https://www.gov.uk/guidance/getting-household-energy-bill-support-in-northern-ireland
*[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pass-through-requirements-for-energy-price-support-provided-to-intermediaries/guidance-on-the-pass-through-requirements-for-energy-price-support-in-great-britain-provided-to-intermediaries