‘Give £150 council tax rebate to poor so they have fuel’
WEALTHY residents who do not need their £150 council tax rebate should donate it to poorer households, an energy company boss says.
Bill Bullen has slammed Rishi Sunak’s plan to help people with the current cost-of-living crisis, sparked by soaring gas and electricity prices.
The CEO of Utilita Energy, said: “The Chancellor’s cost-of-living support package is a broad brush stroke that will hit millions that don’t need it and leave millions of fuel-poor households facing challenges that are unimaginable for those lucky enough to afford the energy they need.”
He added: “I’m urging all councils across Great Britain to include links to the charities National Energy Action and Energy Action Scotland, where donations go direct to fuel poor households. “We have already spoken to a handful of councils who are very much in support of inviting residents to donate the £150 council tax relief to those who need it more.”
The campaign echoes a recent one where wealthier pensioners asked to donate their Winter Fuel Allowance raised around £2million for poorer households. Sutton, south London, is the first council to support Mr Bullen’s request.
It has 82,980 residents of which about 7,000 are experiencing fuel poverty. That number is set to rise when prices increase on April 1. Adam Scorer, chief executive of National Energy Action, a fuel poverty charity in England and Wales, said: “We are so grateful to those people who, while eligible for the rebate, can keep comfortably warm, don’t need it, and donate it to organisations like ours.
“Every donation helps us do more for some of the most vulnerable people in the UK.”
Frazer Scott, CEO of Energy Action Scotland, the equivalent charity north of the border, added: “One in three households in Scotland are now identified as being in fuel poverty. It isn’t right and it isn’t fair.”
All homes in council tax bands A to D will get the full £150 rebate on bills this year as part of the Chancellor’s multi-billion-pound package to help shield them from the worst of the cost-of-living crisis.