Vulnerable energy customers looking to switch to a cheap energy deal could miss out on the £140 Warm Home Discount, according to Migrate.

The auto-switching service analysed the 10 cheapest deals on the market and found that 70 per cent are from energy suppliers who don’t currently subscribe to the government’s Warm Home Discount scheme.

What is the Warm Home Discount?

The Warm Home Discount is a government scheme that gives extra help to people struggling with their energy bills. You’ll receive the discount if you get the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit or if you’re on a low income and meet your energy supplier’s criteria for the scheme.

If you’re eligible you’ll get a one-off £140 annual rebate credited to your energy bill during winter – but your energy supplier must subscribe to the scheme.

The cheapest energy tariffs

According to Migrate, the cheapest deal available is Outfox the Market’s One Variable 7.0 tariff which has an average cost of £864 a year, which is £315 less than Ofgem’s price cap.

However, as Outfox the Market doesn’t currently offer the Warm Home Discount, eligible customers won’t get the £140 one-off discount.

The cheapest tariff from a Warm Home Discount scheme subscriber is Avro Energy’s Simple and SuperSave tariff that has an average cost of £890 a year.

But when the Warm Home Discount of £140 is applied, the average cost stands at £750 a year – that’s a saving of £114 compared to Outfox the Market’s market-leading tariff and £429 a year cheaper than the price cap limit of £1,179.

Search for suppliers who subscribe to the scheme

To help ensure that elderly and vulnerable people don’t miss out on their Warm Home Discount, Migrate gives customers the option to only see tariffs from suppliers who subscribe to the scheme.

George Chalmers, CEO of Migrate, said: “For years now, energy customers have consistently been pushed towards the cheapest deals that appear at the top of price comparison results pages, however our research shows that elderly and vulnerable people could be overpaying by more than £100 a year on their energy bills if they aren’t careful when migrating to one of these ‘best-buy’ tariffs.

“The problem is that the Warm Home Discount is usually not factored into the price savings shown on most comparison websites, meaning that the ‘illustrative’ savings figure is not accurate and could even be considered misleading for those that qualify for other discounts.”