Local MP, Maria Miller, welcomed the £150 Council Tax rebate payment that has begun to be sent to Basingstoke residents by the Borough Council.
Maria said: “I am pleased to see that the government has announced a package of support - the Energy Bills Rebate - to help households with rising energy bills. This includes: a £150 non-repayable Council Tax Rebate for households in England in council tax bands A to D; and a £144M Discretionary Fund for billing authorities to support households in need but not eligible for the Council Tax Rebate.
“This equates to an additional £9 million funding for the Borough Council to be passed on directly to Basingstoke residents (£8.71m for the Council Tax Rebate, and £0.27m for the Discretionary Fund). The schemes began from April, with processing takes around 3-4 weeks. So the first receipts should now soon be seeing their rebate payments come through. All payments within the scope of the rebate scheme will need to have been made by 30 September 2022, and discretionary payments by November 2022.
“The recent rise in energy costs for consumers is understandably a cause of concern for Basingstoke residents. Several external factors have driven inflationary pressures. In particular, shortages created by the reanimation of the global economy and global energy price spikes brought on by the inability of supply to keep up with demand and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This has been particularly acute when it comes to the price of wholesale gas. It is therefore absolutely right that steps are being taken both nationally and at a local level to address the impact on household bills.”