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<p>There is a range of assistance with energy costs available to low income and vulnerable
consumers.</p><p> </p><p>Some policies offer automatic payments. For example, Cold
Weather Payments provide £25 for each 7 day period of very cold weather to eligible
households. The cost of this scheme is not only dependent on who is eligible but also
on the number of consecutive days of very cold weather in a given winter.</p><p> </p><p>Other
types of assistance are set at a given level of annual support, irrespective of the
number of eligible consumers. For example, Affordable Warmth is estimated to deliver
energy efficiency and heating measures worth around £350 million. Whilst a consumer
needs to be claiming certain types of benefits to be eligible for the scheme, support
is capped at a certain target level and therefore extending the scheme's eligibility
criteria would not necessarily affect the cost of the scheme.</p><p> </p><p>These
examples highlight that the cost of assistance is dependent on a number of factors
beyond simply whether a consumer is eligible for support. We estimate 8 million people
will be receiving Universal Credit once it has been fully rolled out. However, the
cost to the public purse of extending the eligibility of the assistance schemes will
depend on which schemes are included (e.g. would Winter Fuel Payments be included?),
the way eligibility is implemented (capped versus automatic) and external factors
such as the weather.</p><p> </p>
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