Age needs one voice. Now it has:
Age UK is the new force combining Age Concern England and
Help the Aged in England.
Cutting your energy bills down to size and making them more affordable doesn’t have to mean making big changes – small measures can save you money too.
Saving money on your energy bills is as easy as 1, 2, 3!
Your current supplier might be able to offer you a cheaper tariff, or one that promises not to increase prices for a while.
If you’re having difficulty paying your bills, tell your energy supplier as soon as you can. They'll let you know how they can help you avoid getting into debt.
If you're already in debt, you may be able to agree on a repayment plan to pay your arrears, or have a prepayment meter installed. Payments can be taken from your benefits to pay off an energy bill debt, if you receive certain means-tested benefits, including Pension Credit. This is known as the Fuel Direct Scheme.
Are you paying your bills in the most efficient way? Most suppliers offer a discount if you pay by direct debit, on average around £100, compared to paying your bill by cash or cheque.
Sign up to paperless billing. This means you won’t receive bills in the post, but will manage your account online instead.
Up to £20b of benefits went unclaimed in 2011. Your supplier might be able to offer you a discount if you are on certain benefits too.
Use our quick and easy online benefits calculator to find out the benefits you may be entitled to claim, or check what help is avaliable with on our guide to heating benefits page. Download our benefits guides: More money in your pocket: a guide for people over pension age (PDF, 958KB) Claiming benefits: a guide for people of working age (PDF, 679KB)
Julie Banks talks to David Terrace about Age UK’s scheme which is offering free home energy checks for those in later life.
Free Home Energy Checks
If you decide to switch suppliers, you’ll find lots of different energy companies and tariffs to choose from. Read the factsheet Switching energy supplier (PDF, 122KB) to find out more about how to switch. You can also contact energy suppliers directly to ask about their best deals.
Have this information to hand, when you want to compare different offers:
Before you Switch, ask yourself these questions:
Not everyone can switch suppliers. If you rent, check with your landlord before switching. If you owe money to your energy supplier, they can stop you from switching to another supplier until your debt is paid off. However, if you have a pre-payment meter, you can transfer debts of up to £200 to a new supplier.
Read Consumer Direct’s guide How to switch energy suppliers to find out what happens after you make the switch.
We all want to make sure we’re getting the best value for money with our gas and electricity. Julie Banks speaks to Ashley Morgan about why we might benefit from switching energy supplier and how the
More money-related radio features
Insulating the loft and cavity walls of your home is a great way to save money on your heating bills, up to £160 per year if you do both.
You can feel the cold indoors as well as out, so it's important to stay warm in your home.
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Downloads
A download is a document (like a research report, a leaflet, or an application form) that can be transferred from our website to your computer. You can download a file, view it on your screen, print it, or save it to your computer.
PDF stands for ‘portable document format’.
Most downloads on this website are PDFs. We use this format to ensure that the document looks the same on everyone’s computer (website pages, by contrast, appear differently depending on how people have set their computer up).
Computers use a program called Adobe Acrobat Reader to download PDFs. If you try clicking on a link to download a PDF and it doesn’t work, you will need to install Adobe Acrobat Reader onto your computer.
The process is quite straightforward and is free.
PDFs cannot be changed. If you need to be able to type into a downloaded document (for example, if we are offering a letter template that you need to put your name on) we will provide it as a Microsoft Word document rather than a PDF. You can then download it, type into it and save it to your computer.
Downloads will open on your computer in a new browser window.
Inside this window (below all your web browser menus), there will be a toolbar with options for you to print or save the document.
Close the browser window to return to the Age UK website.
We have made every effort to make our PDFs accessible to screen readers. Here is an overview of your accessibility options available in Acrobat Reader. Please ensure that you have downloaded the latest version of Acrobat Reader from the Adobe Reader website to ensure that they are included in your version of the programme.
You can use Adobe Reader to read a PDF out loud with the following shortcut keys:
You can also convert a PDF into a web page by following these steps:
You can convert a PDF document into a text file for use with other software and hardware such as Braille printers by opening the PDF and choosing ‘Save as text’ from the File menu.
We are campaigning for the government to introduce mandatory social tariffs so those on lower incomes have cheaper heating.
If you receive the Guarantee Credit part of Pension Credit, you may be eligible for the Warm Home Discount Scheme.
Charis Grants administers funds to help people and families who are struggling to pay their utility bills. They award successful applicants with a one-off payment to the utility company concerned.
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