The letters detail information about the Warm Home Discount scheme, which is reopening again from today and gives eligible households £150 off their electricity bill
Millions of UK households have started to receive letters about a one-off £150 discount on their electricity bill from today.
The letters detail information about the Warm Home Discount scheme, which is reopening again. This gives you £150 directly off your electricity bill, with the payment sent to your energy supplier.
The discount is normally applied between late October and March. It is available to households where someone was claiming one of the following benefits on the qualifying date, which changes every year.
For this year, the qualifying date is August 24. You must have been claiming one of these benefits on this date to get the Warm Home Discount this year:
- 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 after the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) confirmed it is removing the high energy use criteria for the Warm Home Discount in England and Wales.
For benefits other than Pension Credit, you used to have to show you had high energy costs – but this element has now been removed.
DESNZ estimates the total number of households that will receive the discount could rise by 2.7 million, to an estimated 6.1 million.
Energy bills have just gone up again, with the Ofgem price cap rising from £1,720 to £1,755 for a typical dual fuel household paying by direct debit.
This price cap will be in place until December 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.