Millions of households have until the end of this weekend to check their entitlement for £150 off energy bills this winter. The Warm Home Discount is a discount applied directly to your energy account, usually to your electricity bill, though you can normally ask for it to go toward your gas bill instead.
To be eligible, someone in your household needs to be claiming means-tested benefits. However, to get the help automatically, that person must be named on your energy bill by August 23. Energy suppliers will use customer records to apply the discount, which is normally issued between late October and March. Around six million households will get the rebate this winter.
Eligibility Criteria for Automatic Discount
If you live in England and Wales, you must be claiming one of the following benefits to get the Warm Home Discount automatically: Universal Credit, Housing Benefit, income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), or Pension Credit.
In Scotland, you must be claiming Pension Credit, an extra amount of Universal Credit because you or your child has a disability or health condition, a disability premium or a pensioner premium of income-related Employment Support Allowance, or a disability premium or a pensioner premium and have a Support for Mortgage Interest loan.
Additional Entitlement and Energy Price Forecast
You will also get the discount automatically if you or your partner has responsibility for a child under five who normally lives with you and you are unemployed and get Universal Credit, get Income-related Employment Support Allowance, or have a Support for Mortgage Interest loan. If you do not get the discount automatically, you will need to apply directly to your energy supplier.
It comes as energy bills are forecast to rise again this winter. The Ofgem price cap is predicted to go up by another 4% this October, following a 13% increase in July. The price cap reflects what the average household can expect to pay for energy a year.
Ofgem says households are using less energy to save money, so it has updated how it calculates the price cap. Under its previous methodology, the current price cap is set at £1,862 a year and Cornwall Insight predicts this could rise to £1,941 in October. Based on its new lower estimates, the current price cap is £1,663 a year and analysts say it could increase to £1,729 in October. Ofgem will announce its October to December price cap on August 26.
Experts at comparison site Uswitch.com say households who are on the price cap can save money by switching to a fixed energy deal now.
