Energy bills: Wales' £200 payment going to 200,000 more homes

More low-income households in Wales will be offered £200 to cope with rising energy bills under new plans.

The Welsh government is running its fuel payment scheme for a second year and said it would now cover more people receiving benefits.

This includes people who get child tax credit, pension credit, disability benefits and carers allowance.

Ministers said 422,000 households are eligible for the scheme, around 200,000 more than were eligible last year.

Individual households are responsible for applying for the payment.

During the winter of 2021-22 not everyone did, and about 166,000 homes received the cash, meaning some 54,000 households missed out.

Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives urged Labour ministers to do more to raise awareness of the scheme this year.

£90m has been earmarked for the scheme, which is separate to other UK government assistance for energy bills.

It comes amid predictions that annual prices will rise higher than expected this autumn.

One industry analyst has predicted the typical customer is likely to pay £3,244 from October.

Nerys Lloyd-Baxter, 54, from Resolven, Neath Port Talbot, will be eligible for the payment because she receives Personal Independence Payment (PIP), a benefit to support people living with a disability.

But she feared the cash would pay for only one month of her energy costs.

"It's wonderful to get extra money of course but when you're only on PIP it's difficult to be very happy because it's only £200," she said.

Lynsey Thomas, 42, from Bridgend, currently receives disability allowance payments and said the payment would make a big difference to her.

She was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's at 35 and is unable to work.

"It's just my husband working in our household, our energy bills have increased by 70% in the last few months, so it would make a massive difference," she told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

People on universal credit, "legacy" means-tested benefits like income support, and working tax credits were already eligible under the 2021-22 scheme.

Under the extended plans, people who qualify include recipients of:

People can claim through their council, with applications opening on 26 September. Payments will be made from October and only one claim can be made per household.

Rebecca Woolley, director of Citizens Advice Cymru welcomed the "significant expansion" of the scheme, saying "record numbers of people are accessing crisis support".

The news comes it emerged the Welsh government had overestimated how many households had been eligible in the first year of the scheme.

Last year the Welsh government said about 350,000 households could apply but now says the figure for the first year was 220,000, lower than originally thought.

The Welsh government said the original estimate included individuals who lived in the same household.

The Welsh payment is separate to cost of living support already announced by the UK government.

That includes an energy grant of £400 off all bills from October and an extra £650 for people on means-tested benefits, paid in two instalments.

The first instalment of £326 is due to be made by the end of July and the second of £324 will be transferred in the autumn.

Earlier this month the Welsh government lost a vote on its winter fuel scheme in the Senedd.

A majority of politicians called for ministers to "revise the winter fuel support scheme to make it fit for purpose in tackling the cost of living crisis" with 25 Members of the Senedd backing the Plaid Cymru motion versus 24 against.

During that debate, social justice minister Jane Hutt said: "We know a lot of households are feeling anxious and worried about their rising energy bills, so we hope this extension of our Welsh government fuel support scheme to many more people will provide some comfort in these challenging times."

Conservative shadow social justice minister Mark Isherwood welcomed the changes, but said he wanted "to see the raising of public awareness of the scheme to boost uptake".

Plaid Cymru's social justice spokeswoman Sioned Williams said too many people missed out on the payments last winter, and said the extension "must also go hand in hand with an awareness raising campaign to improve uptake of the scheme, as we know last time too many households didn't claim the support they were eligible for".