The payment is sent to your energy supplier, rather than as a cash payment to your bank account – here is everything you need to know
Millions of UK households will receive a £150 discount off their electricity bill this winter – with dozens of suppliers taking part in an annual help scheme.
The Warm Home Discount has reopened, and this gives you £150 directly off your electricity bill. The payment is sent to your energy supplier, rather than as a cash payment to your bank account.
The following energy suppliers are taking part in the Warm Home Discount scheme:
- 100Green (formerly Green Energy UK or GEUK)
- Affect Energy – see Octopus Energy
- Boost
- British Gas
- Bulb Energy – see Octopus Energy
- Co-op Energy – see Octopus Energy
- E – also known as E (Gas and Electricity)
- Ecotricity
- E.ON Next
- EDF
- Fuse Energy
- Good Energy
- Home Energy
- London Power
- Octopus Energy
- Outfox Energy
- OVO
- Sainsbury’s Energy
- Scottish Gas – see British Gas
- ScottishPower
- Shell Energy Retail
- So Energy
- Square 1 Energy Ltd
- Tomato Energy
- TruEnergy
- Tulo Energy
- Utilita
- Utility Warehouse
To get the Warm Home Discount scheme, you must be claiming one of the following benefits on the qualifying date, which changes every year. For this year, the qualifying date is August 24.
- Guaranteed credit element of Pension Credit
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Housing Benefit
- Universal Credit
- “Savings Credit” part of Pension Credit
If you live in England or Wales, you will receive the Warm Home Discount automatically. If you live in Scotland, the payment is only automatic if you get the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit.
For the other benefits listed above, you’ll need to apply manually by contacting your energy supplier. There is no Warm Home Discount scheme in Northern Ireland.
It comes as energy bills are set to rise again slightly this January, with the Ofgem price cap increasing from £1,755 to £1,758 for a typical dual fuel household paying by direct debit.
This price cap will be in place until March 31, when it will be updated again. You will be covered by the Ofgem price cap if you are on a standard variable rate (SVR) tariff, so if you’re not locked into a fixed rate deal.
But there isn’t actually a total cap on what you can pay for energy. Your bill is still charged based on how much gas and electricity you use.
The Ofgem price cap limits what you can be charged for units of gas and electricity, as well as standing charges, which are fixed daily amounts you pay to be connected to the energy network.
The price cap figure illustrates what someone with typical energy consumption can expect to pay each year. Ofgem assumes the average household consumes 2,700 kwh of electricity and 11,500 kWh of gas over 12 months.