Under the proposals, nearly three million more households would be eligible to receive the £150 Warm Home Discount next winter.
Currently, in England and Wales, you’ll qualify if you get the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit, or if you are on a low income and have high energy costs.
For those in Scotland, you’ll receive the discount if you have the same credit elements, or you are on a low income and meet your energy supplier’s criteria for the scheme.
Under the Government’s proposals, all households in receipt of means-tested benefits would be eligible to receive the £150 electricity bill rebate.
In England and Wales, this would remove the stipulation that a household needs to have ‘high energy costs’ to qualify. In Scotland, the level of spending available for suppliers to allocate would be increased.
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According to ministers, expanding the Warm Home Discount scheme would mean almost three million more households, including almost one million households with children, would get support to pay their energy bills during winter 2025/26.
The news comes as Ofgem announced that the energy price cap will rise 6.4% to £1,849 per year.
What is the Warm Home Discount scheme?
The Warm Home Discount has run since 2011 and aims to help households most at risk of fuel poverty.
The majority of the eligible recipients get the concession automatically, with £150 deducted from their electricity bill.
The Government said expansion of the scheme would mean about 2.7 million households get the cash – pushing the total number of households that would receive the discount next winter up to an estimated 6.1 million.
Ed Miliband, Energy Secretary, said: “This Government is determined to do everything we can to protect people from the grip of fossil fuel markets. Expanding the Warm Home Discount can help protect millions of families from rising energy bills, offering support to consumers across the country.
“Alongside this, the way to deliver energy security and bring down bills for good is to deliver our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower – with homegrown clean power that we in Britain control.”
