Cllr Anton Georgiou has forwarded this letter, sent to all councillors, so that I could share with readers to ensure nobody misses out on the energy rebate if they are eligible.
Dear Councillors
The £150 one-off energy rebate is for customers who live in a property as their main home in Council Tax bands A-D. A discretionary scheme will be launched in June for properties in bands E-H.
A total of 41,655 Council Tax Direct Debit payers have already received the rebate.
Other customers who do not pay Council Tax via Direct Debit are required to complete the online form where they can choose to have the £150 credited to their Council Tax account, paid to them via BACS or they may choose to donate the £150 to the Council’s Resident Support Fund.
Support in completing the online form can be obtained from Customer Services or at one of the Brent Hubs.
If customers make a mistake filling out their form and need to change their details they can contact energybillsrebate@brent.gov.uk giving their details, a contact number and address.
We have now started to make payments to those who have completed the online form. If customers have not notified us of their choice by 31 July their £150 will be credited to their council tax account, so no eligible resident will miss out.
Direct Debit (DD) is the best way for residents to pay their council tax, so our online form offers them the opportunity to sign up for Direct Debit too. Existing and new Direct Debit accounts (made by 30 June) will go into a draw to win a year’s worth of Council Tax. The winner will be chosen at random. One year’s worth of Council Tax (equivalent to the Band your property falls into) will be credited to their account. Employees of Brent Council, Brent Councillors, and those whose properties have been empty for one year or more as of 30 June 2022 are excluded from the draw.
On-line form LINK
1 comment:
Thank you to Martin for highlighting the rising cost of energy facing Brent Council - although the 'record of the decision' does not reflect the purpose of my question.
The table unfortunately highlights the impact of rising energy costs on Brent Council (and therefore local people) with the cost indicated rising from £4.5 million in 2021/22 to an estimated £9.7 million in the current 2022/23 year.
In 2020 the Council renewed its contract and the normal renewal periods lasted for 4 years. The then Labour Cabinet decided to renew just for 2 years instead of 4 and are now having to renew again - at a time when energy costs are at record highs - compared to 2 years ago.
As I was concerned at the impact of the rising cost (£5.2 million more than last year) I asked what the impact in terms of the extra costs is of Labour Councillors opting for a 2 year rather than a 4 year contract in 2020.
As no answer was available at the meeting I now await a written response from the Director of Finance. It should be relatively easy to work out as Laser, who arrange Brent energy supplies, should be able to confirm the prices Brent would have been paying if the Council had entered into a 4 year contract in 2020 as compared to the prices the Council has to pay now because of having to renew its contract this year. I await the answer with interest.
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