Hi friend,

Happy new year! In case you missed it, at the end of last year we received some good news - Ofgem, the energy sector regulator, responded to our campaign to end energy debt.

They announced a consultation into a new scheme to write off energy debt that had built up during the cost of living crisis!

This couldn’t have happened without all your dedication to the campaign. Over 17,000 Debt Justice campaigners like you, friend, came together to call out this injustice. It’s a massive win, and a great way to start the new year.

Below is my original email, in case you missed it.

Thanks once again for signing petitions, writing to your MPs and sharing the campaign on social media.

In solidarity,

Eva, Richard, Zak and all at Debt Justice

Dear friend,

Some good news for the end of the year.  

Ofgem, the energy sector regulator, has said today that they will look at introducing a new scheme to write off energy debt that has built up during the cost of living crisis!  

Over 17,000 Debt Justice campaigners have been part of the campaign calling for an energy debt write off, with high bills impacting millions of us across the UK. Debt and arrears have risen by 91% in the last two years, and 75% of that debt sits with people who have no plan of how to pay it off.  

It’s obvious that without change thousands of us would be saddled with unpayable debt for many years to come.  

Even so, when we launched the campaign at the height of the cost of living crisis there was no guarantee we would win, but this shows that people power works! And, friend, we couldn’t have done it without you. 

Thousands of you signed petitions, wrote to your MPs and shared the campaign on social media. We even sent our message directly to Ofgem, when over 2000 Debt Justice supporters took part in the national consultation.  

And it’s paid off! Ofgem have announced that they are looking into a £0.5-1 billion scheme to ‘Reset the Debt’, recognising the severity of the crisis over the past few years.  

With winter here and bills still at an all time high, this news couldn’t come soon enough. Ofgem are planning a short consultation on the scheme and how it could work, so we’ll keep you updated in the new year.  

We’ll be in touch with more ways you can get involved in our personal debt campaigns, but for now, well done and thank you for taking action!  

Best wishes,  

Eva, Zak, Richard and the rest of the team at Debt Justice  

PS. You can read more about what’s happened through the links below:

https://moneyadvicetrust.org/latest-news/ofgem-listens-to-calls-for-help-to-repay-energy-debts/  

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/debt-strategy-reset-and-reform-customers-debt