Energy rebate: tenants fear they could miss out on £400 discount

theguardian.com:

When Rishi Sunak recently announced a £400 rebate on electricity bills for every household, there was one group of energy customers left wondering how they would get their money.

While customers who pay by direct debit or cheque will gain a credit on their electricity bills from October, and those with prepayment meters are expecting a voucher or credit, tenants who have meters in their rooms and pay a third party for their energy fear they will miss out.

One Guardian Money reader got in touch to tell us about his situation. He is one of several tenants living in a house of multiple occupation (HMO). They each have a prepayment meter in their room, and buy codes online from the company that runs it. That firm passes the money on to their landlord, who pays the energy supplier for the entire property’s electricity.

The reader says he has a very good landlord and would not be surprised if his share of the £400 rebate was passed on to him and the others. But he wondered what the rules were.

“There are eight tenants in this house, all on prepayment meters. As I understand the situation, none of the tenants can receive the £400 grant, as none of us receive a bill from an energy supplier,” he wrote.

“I imagine this same situation applies to many thousands of tenants across the UK, and many, like me, will be people with very limited financial means.”

Chris Norris, the director of policy at the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), says he expects landlords to get guidance from the Treasury about redistributing the money, but there are also protections in place for tenants.

“Landlords who are resellers of energy are not allowed to make a profit on that resale – they can be taken to the small claims court if they do,” he