Can You Spare Any Of Your Energy Rebate?


To help those in severe fuel hardship across the borough

A voucher prepayment initiative is being run in partnership with Thinking Works
A voucher prepayment initiative is being run in partnership with Thinking Works. Picture: Wandsworth Foodbank

December 16, 2022

Wandsworth Foodbank is reporting extreme challenges across the borough among people at the sharpest end of the cost of living crisis who can't afford to top-up their gas and electricity prepayment meters.

“People are asking us for food that doesn't need much, if any, cooking,” said the charity. “And many are saying they fear they won't turn their heating on at all this winter.

“We're very worried. Living in cold and damp homes severely impacts health, and many people referred to us have a long-term health condition or disability, or are caring for someone who does. We know that children are particularly vulnerable in cold and damp homes and around 1 in 3 emergency food parcels we provide are for children.”

Local residents are now being asked if they would very kindly donate towards fuel prepayment vouchers, either from any money not needed from energy rebate payments or winter fuel allowances this year, or simply as a special gift of whatever is affordable.

“We’ve often heard people say they wish they could donate their winter fuel allowance or energy rebate payment to directly help local people and families in greater need,” says Wandsworth Foodbank, who will convert donations into £49 fuel prepayment vouchers to be issued directly to local people referred to the charity as being in severe hardship. The £49 vouchers are for topping up prepayment meters, so that people can cook the food provided by the Foodbank and heat homes on the coldest days.

One resident describes daily agonising choices she has to make between food and heating, “I think, do I spend on food or on electric? When I get home I make myself a hot cup of tea, and I fill the hot water bottle that the Foodbank gave me, and I sit under a woolly blanket to keep warm.”

Another resident, who is a mum and a care worker on a zero-hours contract, had just £2 left on her electricity meter and was desperately worried. Wandsworth Foodbank were able to provide her with a £49 top-up voucher and let her know it was “thanks to people who cared about the difficulty she was facing”.

Wandsworth Foodbank is working on the voucher project in partnership with Thinking Works, an award-winning not-for-profit company that works with local authorities and housing associations to tackle fuel poverty.

Please click here to donate to the fuel prepayment voucher initiative.

 

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.