Kessingland Parish Council is pleased to be working with various organisations in the village such as Kessingland Benefice and Methodist churches, the KSSC, Mates on Mondays, the Men's Shed, Friendship Club, Kessingland Help in Need, Kessingland Football Club, Kessingland CofE Primary School to support the village over what could still be a hard winter for many of us, even with the government actions announced recently.  If there are any other groups in the community which would like to become involved it is an open group and we would be very pleased to have you involved.

 

We are also receiving support from East Suffolk and Suffolk County councils as well as bodies such as Disability Advice North East Suffolk (DANES) and the CAB as well as some external charities.  There are also some other initiatives which are also being worked on which will be announced as they are ready.

 

We have set up an area on the website under our community pages which will provide information.  This is new so please bear with us while we get it up and running.   Our first post on that area is Martin Lewis's quick guide to what the government's price cap means and how it will affect you.  

 

This is just to give some initial guidance however it is planned that there will be various information sessions in the village in October which will provide a wider range of support and ideas including benefits advice, heating and warm home grants, food, pet care and budgeting amongst other matters.  Please keep check on our website for latest information but we will also be providing information on notice boards and on Facebook.  We also intend to get information direct to households if we can.

 

If anyone would like to become involved or has some time they could offer to help others then we would be grateful to hear from you.  It is possible there may be a whole range of skills which may be needed and may help us support each other in the same way as the community came together and supported each other during the pandemic"

 

This is the information from Martin Lewis which we could probably put on a page under the Kessingland Community Together page probably as "Guide to £2500 energy pricecap.

 

New energy price guarantee – 15 quick need-to-knows for consumers

Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, said: "On the back of a prior briefing and the announcement in parliament, here is my very quickly bashed out summary of the new energy price freeze.  

1. The new price guarantee starts 1 October, and for someone on typical use will be £2,500 a year and it will last for two years.

2. The current price cap is £1,971 a year rate at typical use, and was due to rise to £3,549 a year (and likely £5,400 a year in January). It was £1,277 a year last winter.

3. This will be a cap on standing charges and unit rates, so use less you pay less, use more pay more (I’ll publish the rates when I have them).

4. There is not total cap on what you pay, the typical rate is just a figure for illustration.

5. The new lower price cap includes getting rid of the green levies.

6. The £400 payment to all homes (paid as £66 a month over winter) will continue.

7. That will take the average payment to £2,100 a year.

8. To estimate what you’ll pay, over a year, multiply current costs by 6.5% (each £100 becomes £106.50) this includes the £400 discount (but not other payments).

9. For those with lower than typical bills, the % increase will be lower, for higher users higher (as the £400 payment is flat regardless of use, so has a bigger proportionate reduction on lower usage).

10. The £650 payments to those on many benefits will continue (half’s already been paid). As will the £150 to those with disabilities and £300 to pensioners.

11. There’s no announcement on whether these payments will be in place next winter, I suspect the political reality is at least for benefits recipients, similar will be paid next year.

12. VAT is not being reduced in this announcement, but there is a chance (50 – 50 I’d say) that may happen in the Chancellor’s fiscal statement next week.

13. For those on LPG and heating oil there I’m told there will be discretionary payments to help them too (awaiting details).

14. For those in park homes and who pay landlords directly, I’m told they should benefit from the new business help (awaiting details).

15. Those on fixes, can either stay on them, or can leave and switch to the new state subsidised tariffs with no exit penalties.