Just under 150,000 households have been paid or approved to receive the £400 energy bills help – a small fraction of the estimated 900,000 who were eligible for the support.

As at 11 July 2023, estimates suggested 148,480 had already received the sum or were waiting for the cash to hit their bank accounts.

Meanwhile, figures from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) revealed that 10,100 payments had been cancelled while 53,330 had been rejected by the end of June 2023.

Payments may have been cancelled because the council or contracted delivery partner in Northern Ireland hadn’t received a response from an applicant when asking for more information for the claim.

A claim may be rejected because the household has already received support from an alternative energy bills help scheme, made a duplicate application or were not eligible for other reasons.

DESNZ is urging local councils and authorities to process eligible payments as soon as possible. But for many, they’ve missed out on the £400 energy bill help altogether as the deadline to claim passed earlier this year.

Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding

The Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding (EBSS AF) was introduced by the Government to help households who do not have a domestic electricity supply.

It was the equivalent scheme to the Energy Bills Support Scheme paid to around 27 million domestic energy users in instalments over six months from October 2022.

It is also different to the £200 Alternative Fuel Payment for off-grid gas customers which applied to those using heating oil, biomass and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to warm their homes.

The EBSS AF scheme went live in February 2023 with these households urged to check their eligibility and apply online via a Government portal for the £400 by the deadline of 31 May 2023.

Once individuals had applied and their application had been processed and verified, details were shared with local authorities across England, Scotland and Wales, or delivery partner in Northern Ireland.

The authorities were then expected to pay the sum, with the exact date of the payment depending on when the application was made and when it could be processed by the relevant department.

The money was expected to be paid as a one-off lump sum directly into eligible people’s bank accounts after they successfully applied online.

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.

“We’re now seeing costs fall even further with wholesale energy prices down by over two thirds since their peak.

“We are urging councils to process applications and complete final checks as quickly as possible to ensure all those eligible receive the support they need.”

If you think you were eligible for the EBSS AF £400 payment but have missed the deadline, check the ‘Help for Households’ webpage where you can see what other support you may be entitled to receive.

Any budget that is not spent will be returned to HM Treasury.