Exclusive: Government helps to broker deal involving 12 suppliers following winter fuel payment cuts

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Energy suppliers will spend £500m helping customers with their energy bills this winter, after the government helped broker a deal involving 12 of the biggest companies in the UK.

Suppliers will spend the money in a variety of ways, including putting credit on some customers’ bills, writing off the debts of others and putting credit on prepayment meters, according to sources familiar with the deal.