Viral posts about £49 fuel vouchers are false

Posts shared thousands of times on Facebook claim that anyone with less than £4 credit on a prepayment energy meter (also known as a pay-as-you-go meter) and is struggling financially, is eligible for two free fuel vouchers a year, worth £49 each. 

This is inaccurate. The post claims that low-income families or people in receipt of benefits can “phone and ask for a fuel voucher”, but does not specify which number people should ring for help. 

A spokesperson for the Fuel Bank Foundation told Full Fact that the claims made in the post were false, adding that inaccurate posts on social media such as these had led to a large volume of calls from people who had been misled into contacting the organisation directly for help. 

They said: “I’ve never come across anything where you can just phone up and say ‘can I have fifty quid to keep my lights on please?’ These things don’t exist.”

A search for the vouchers on Google returns a PDF leaflet from the Fuel Bank Foundation, offering a £49 fuel voucher. However, the spokesperson told us that while the voucher is genuine, it would only be given to people who had already had their needs independently assessed by a third party such as a local authority and food bank, and was not valid for use by the general population. 

A spokesperson for Centrica, the owner of British Gas, also told us that the claims made about the £49 vouchers are not correct.

They added that energy suppliers may offer emergency utility vouchers to customers with prepaid meters, but the value of the vouchers themselves is bespoke. 

One small charity based in Warwickshire has publicly urged people not to contact them about the vouchers, stating that their phone lines had been “inundated with calls due to an incorrectly shared Facebook post”.

Support with energy bills 

With energy prices due to increase sharply, it has been reported that millions more households in the UK will face “fuel stress”. 

There are a number of government-run schemes available for people who are struggling to pay their energy bills, for example the Warm Home Discount Scheme through which eligible people can get a one-off £140 discount on (or equivalent voucher toward) their energy bill covering the period from October to March. This scheme does not run in Northern Ireland, though there is other support available such as the Affordable Warmth Scheme.

Some low-income households across the UK may also be eligible for Cold Weather Payments if the temperature drops to 0°C or below for seven consecutive days (or is forecast to do so) in their area. Eligible households will receive £25 for each seven-day period of very cold weather between 1 November and 31 March.

Some people born on or before 26 September 1955 are also automatically eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment, which ranges between £100 and £300. Some other households in receipt of other types of social security benefits are also eligible. This applies to people who live across the UK, as well as people who live in some European countries or have a “genuine or sufficient” link to the UK. 

For more information on financial support for paying energy bills, including grants to tackle energy debt or help directly from suppliers, visit Citizens Advice.