The Warm Home Discount gives you £150 off your electricity bill, with the money applied directly to your energy account, or as vouchers if you are a prepayment customer
Energy bills are expected to fall this spring(Image: Getty)
There are just says left to apply for the Warm Home Discount worth £150 – although most people should have already received this help automatically.
The Warm Home Discount gives you £150 off your electricity bill, with the money applied directly to your energy account, or as vouchers if you are a prepayment customer.
You are eligible for the Warm Home Discount if you were claiming one of the following benefits on the qualifying date of 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
Ensure our latest headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as your Preferred Source in your Google search settings.
If you live in England or Wales, you will receive the Warm Home Discount automatically if you were claiming one of these benefits.
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.
If you believe you were eligible, but you did not receive a letter and the money has not been applied to your energy account, then you need to contact the Warm Home Discount scheme by February 28.
You can do this by calling 0800 030 9322 or by writing to Warm Home Discount Scheme, PO Box 970, Preston, PR2 0FX.
As the deadline is next week, it would be best to call, to ensure you can speak to someone before the cut-off date.
It comes as energy bills look set to fall this spring. Cornwall Insight predicts the Ofgem price cap will fall from £1,758 a year to £1,641 for a typical dual fuel home.
Ofgem will announce its next price cap on February 25 – this will cover three months from April 1 to June 30.
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.