Following concerns expressed to the Minster with responsibility for Public Utilities, the Hon Gemma Arias-Vasquez, Government have clarified that there has been no change whatsoever to the policy on the Pensioner Utility Grant which is applied to AquaGib and GibElec utility bills.

The Government says it understands that a number of qualifying individuals for the Pensioner Utilities Grant have not yet had this applied to their accounts.

On querying this, the Minister was informed that AquaGib sent out the annual renewal form in October 2023 to those who had claimed the grant the previous year and have advised the Minister that all responses received to date will be processed before the end of this month (March 2024).

Pensioners should, however, note that the physical credits are applied to the account and not shown on the top section of the monthly bill, in the same way that payments are not shown on the top section of the monthly bill. Individuals will be able to establish whether the credit has been applied to their account by looking at the Aged Debt section and their overall balance owed at the bottom of the document.

The Government has been assured that measures are being taken to ensure that this process can be done more efficiently next year.

The Minister with responsibility for Public Utilities, the Hon Gemma Arias-Vasquez, said: “I would like to reassure all pensioners that there has been no change on the policy regarding the Pensioner Utilities Grant. I am advised that the delay, when compared to previous years, in respect of this discount has only been due to operational and administrative reasons and I am assured that measures are being taken to ensure the process is more efficient in coming years. I would like to thank Pensioners for their patience and understanding on this”.