THE area's MSP has warned residents across Dumbarton are missing out on support for their energy usage and urged them to take action before it’s too late.

Labour’s Jackie Baillie says people on prepayment meters must claim their £400 cost of living support vouchers before the deadline on June 30 and called on the Scottish and UK Governments to do more to help people who are struggling.

Latest figures show that in West Dunbartonshire, 6590 households are still to claim the support they are entitled to through the Energy Bill Support Scheme.

The scheme gave every household a £400 discount on their energy bills for winter 2022 to 2023.

If you have a traditional prepayment meter, you’ll get the discount each month as either redeemable vouchers, sent by text, email or post or an automatic credit when you top up at your usual top-up point.

However, the deadline for redeeming them is the end of this month and many have gone unclaimed.

In total, £434,940 worth of support in West Dunbartonshire has gone unclaimed and the deputy leader of Scottish Labour pleaded with locals to act quickly.

She said: “Bills are soaring and it is vital that people can get the support to which they are entitled.

“Anyone with a voucher they haven’t used needs to redeem it by June 30 so they don’t miss out.

“We urgently need more action from both the UK and the Scottish governments to help people through this cost of living crisis, and to ensure everyone can get what they are entitled to.”

Vouchers were sent out to households with non-digital pre-payment meters by post, email or text message. Anyone whose voucher hasn’t arrived, or is lost or expired can ask their supplier for a new one to be issued.  

In nearby Argyll and Bute, the figure was even higher with 8150 unredeemed vouchers estimated to be around £537,900.