Energy petition calling for right to refuse £200 'loan' soars past official response milestone
dailyrecord.co.ukA petition asking for energy customers to be given the right to refuse the £200 ‘loan’ which will be credited to all electricity accounts in October has now passed the signature threshold which triggers an official response from the UK Government.
The response threshold is 10,000 signatures and the, 'Allow consumers the right to refuse the £200 energy rebate' petition, created last month by Sharron Espin, has now received more than 10,500 digital signatures of support.
The petition reads: “Stop forcing people to accept a loan for energy without the right of refusal. This will put more strain on many financially and mentally." It continues: “Make it fair for people and research a better payment plan that doesn't discriminate against children leaving home and relationship breakdown.“They [energy firms] will make a lot of money by charging £40 per annum to every consumer even if that consumer didn't have this £200 loan, eg- child at home goes to uni and now owes £200 they didn't borrow as they were not the billed consumer at the time the loan was issued, ditto to relationship breakdown, both parties will be paying the whole amount even though they live apart ergo £200 borrowed £400 repaid.” Many people voiced concern over the £200 ‘loan’ on social media following the announcement in February and reached out to consumer champion, Martin Lewis, for advice on how to reject the money.
The founder of MoneySavingExpert.com shared a video explaining how the £200 loan is “not optional” and “is going to happen automatically on every single bill”.And a few days later, the financial guru called on the Chancellor Rishi Sunak to "urgently rethink his energy bills £200 discount and clawback scheme”.Research commissioned by
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