The Warm Home Discount is a one-off deduction of £150 from your electricity bill, under the Warm Home Discount Scheme. The money will NOT be paid to you – it is a one-off discount on your electricity bill between October 2022 and March 2023.
You may be able to get the discount on your gas bill instead if your supplier provides you with both gas and electricity, and you are eligible.The discount will not affect any Cold Weather Payments or Winter Fuel Payments that your household may also be eligible for.
Read on for more.
Eligibility
There are different ways to qualify for the Warm Home Discount Scheme.
If you live in England and Wales, you qualify if you either:
- Receive the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit. This is known as being in Core Group 1
- Have a low income and have high energy costs. This is known as being in Core Group 2.
People In Core Group 1
You qualify for the discount if on 21 August 2022, all of the following apply to your household:
- Your energy supplier is part of the scheme
- Your name (or your partner’s) is on the bill
- You or your partner are receiving the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit. This applies even if you receive Savings Credit as well
How Do I Receive The Discount If I Am In Core Group 1?
The scheme for people in Core Group 1 opens on 14 November 2022. If you are eligible, you will receive a letter between November 2022 and January 2023.
Most eligible households will receive an automatic discount. Your letter should say that you need to call the Warm Home Front Helpline before 28 February 2023 to confirm your details.
If you are eligible, your electricity supplier will apply the discount to your bill by the 31st of March 2023.
People In Core Group 2
If you DO NOT get the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit, you may still be eligible if ALL OF the following applied to your household as of 21 August 2022:
- Your energy supplier is part of the scheme
- You live in a property identified as having high energy costs
- You (or your partner) get certain means-tested benefits or tax credits
- Your property has a high energy cost score based on its characteristics
- Your name (or your partner’s) is on the bill
As mentioned above, to qualify for this group you need to be receiving one of the following benefits and/or Child or Working Tax Credits.
The qualifying means-tested benefits are:
- Housing Benefit – with a total annual household income of £16,190 or less.
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- Income Support
- The ‘Savings Credit’ part of Pension Credit
- Universal Credit – with an earned income of £1349 or less, in at least one assessment period since the 1st of September 2021.
You could also qualify if your household income falls below a certain threshold, and you receive either:
- Child Tax Credit – which has been awarded based on an annual income of £16,190 or less.
- Working Tax Credit – which has been awarded based on an annual income of £16,190 or less.
What are the High Energy Cost Criteria?
In order to receive the Warm Home Discount, you need to live in a property identified as having high energy costs if you are part of Core Group 2 (as defined above). To work out whether this applies to your property, the Government use a set of criteria. These criteria are determined by the Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and use data from the Valuations Office Agency (VOA).
The VOA will use the following benchmarks to work out the predicted energy costs of a property:
- Floor Area – the larger the property, the more likely it is to have higher energy costs.
- Property Age – older properties are likely to have below average energy efficiency, and above average floor areas.
- Property Type – properties with more external walls like detached houses, generally have lower energy efficiency and higher energy costs.
BEIS will match property data from the VOA with means-tested benefit and Tax Credits data held by the DWP and HMRC, to determine whether or not you meet the criteria and as such whether you will receive the Warm Home Discount this winter.
BuDS are concerned that many disabled people will not meet these criteria. As such, even if you usually qualify for the Discount, this year you cannot count on receiving it unless you meet the criteria.
How Do I Receive The Discount If I Am In Core Group 2?
The scheme for people in Core Group 2 opens on 14 November 2022. If you are eligible, you will receive a letter between November 2022 and January 2023.
Most eligible households will receive an automatic discount. Your letter will say if you need to call a helpline by 28 February 2023 to confirm your details.
If you are eligible, your electricity supplier will apply the discount to your bill by 31 March 2023.
Participating Energy Suppliers
The following suppliers are part of the scheme for winter 2022/23:
- Affect Energy – see Octopus Energy
- Atlantic – see SSE
- Boost
- British Gas
- British Gas Evolve (formerly British Gas X) – see British Gas
- Bulb Energy
- Co-op Energy – see Octopus Energy
- E (Gas and Electricity)
- Ecotricity
- E.ON
- E.ON Next
- EDF
- GEUK (Green Energy UK)
- Good Energy
- London Power
- M&S Energy
- Nabuh Energy
- Octopus Energy
- Outfox the Market
- OVO
- Rebel Energy
- Sainsbury’s Energy
- Scottish Gas – see British Gas
- Scottish Hydro – see SSE
- Scottish Power
- Shell Energy Retail
- So Energy
- Southern Electric – see SSE
- SSE
- Swalec – see SSE
- UTILITA
- Utility Warehouse
More Information
To see all our articles about the ongoing Cost of Living crisis, visit: https://buds.org.uk/category/information/costofliving/
To read the Government’s full summary of the Warm Home Discount Scheme, visit: https://www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme