Government Electricity Rebate provides £324m to 27m energy consumers
Press release
Publication date
Scheme name
GER
The second and final year of the Government Electricity Rebate (GER) scheme has provided £324 million to 27 million energy consumers across Great Britain.
The GER was a £12 government contribution to help lower the impact of environmental and social policy costs on consumer energy bills which ran in 2014 and 2015.
All licensed domestic electricity suppliers were obligated to apply the rebate to bills which, over the two years the scheme operated, totalled £645 million.
More than 99% of eligible customers received the rebate in the second year of the GER scheme.
Ofgem E-Serve, which is responsible for the administration of the government’s environmental and social programmes, oversaw the delivery of the GER.
It was responsible for providing guidance to, and monitoring compliance by, the 32 obligated energy suppliers. In the second year of the scheme compliance by suppliers increased with only a small number of contraventions.
Chris Poulton, Managing Director of Ofgem E-Serve, said: “I’m pleased with our successful administration of the GER scheme in its second and final year.
“I am delighted with the success of the second year of the scheme. We have driven best practice by enhancing scheme guidance, increasing levels of supplier engagement, carrying out targeted audits, and monitoring supplier compliance.
“We also worked with suppliers and the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to increase rebate redemption among pre-payment meter customers.
“I am also pleased that smaller suppliers, a number of whom had no prior experience of delivering such schemes, managed to meet their obligations in the vast majority of circumstances.
“Unlike other schemes, the GER was designed to provide a rebate to all households in Great Britain with a domestic electricity account and the high volume nature of this brought its own challenges.
“We will draw upon the lessons learned and experience gained from delivering the GER scheme to drive best practice among suppliers, particularly those who have obligations to deliver rebates under the Warm Home Discount scheme.”
For further press information contact:
Stuart Forsyth: 0207 910 3111
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