	{"id":46583,"date":"2020-12-10T00:38:08","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T14:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?p=46583"},"modified":"2020-12-10T08:32:45","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T22:32:45","slug":"labor-government-offering-250-towards-energy-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/labor-government-offering-250-towards-energy-bills\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor Government offering $250 towards energy bills"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>CONCESSION card holders will be able to get access to much-needed relief from the state Labor Government as of early next year.<\/p>\n<p>The $250 one-off payment is designed to help those who are facing financial hardship pay their energy bills.<\/p>\n<p>With more people staying at home, Geelong MP Christine Couzens said she recognised that many Victorians have faced bigger power bills than ever before.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This one-off $250 payment will help those who would otherwise have to choose between paying their bills or putting food on the table.<\/p>\n<p>As of February 2021, concession card holders, including those receiving JobSeeker, youth allowance or pension payments will be able to get access to the initiative online.<\/p>\n<p>The payment is a part of a $797 million scheme to help Victorians cover the cost of power bills and make their homes more energy efficient.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Victorian budget for 2020\/2021 is delivering the biggest household energy efficiency package in any state&#8217;s history,<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Part of this is recognising that some of the most financially vulnerable in the community have been the hardest hit this year,&#8221; Ms Couzens said.<\/p>\n<p>The payment is estimated to assist more than 950,000 households across the state who may otherwise struggle to pay their bills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CONCESSION card holders will be able to get access to much-needed relief from the state Labor Government as of early next year. The $250 one-off payment is designed to help those who are facing financial hardship pay their energy bills. With more people staying at home, Geelong MP Christine Couzens said she recognised that many [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/labor-government-offering-250-towards-energy-bills\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":46638,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-46583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Labor Government offering $250 towards energy bills - Surf Coast Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/labor-government-offering-250-towards-energy-bills\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Labor Government offering $250 towards energy bills - Surf Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CONCESSION card holders will be able to get access to much-needed relief from the state Labor Government as of early next year. The $250 one-off payment is designed to help those who are facing financial hardship pay their energy bills. 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