Letters will confirm eligibility for a £150 discount on energy bills
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is set to begin dispatching letters about the 2025/26 Warm Home Discount scheme to qualifying households from today, October 20, 2025. All eligible people should receive these letters by early January 2026.
These letters will confirm your eligibility for a £150 discount on your energy bills from the DWP. They will let you know that either the discount will be applied automatically or instruct you to contact the Warm Home Discount helpline to verify your details.
The money isn’t given directly to those who qualify. Instead, the DWP provides energy suppliers with the £150 Warm Home Discount annually from October to March, reports the Manchester Evening News.
This DWP discount is then credited to your electricity account as a one-off credit, or, for those with prepayment meters, it may be provided as a top-up voucher. The scheme is funded by the participating energy companies, which apply the discount to the bills of qualifying customers during this period.
What is the Warm Home Discount?
The Warm Home Discount Scheme offers a one-time discount of £150 on your electricity bill. If you’re eligible, your electricity provider will deduct the discount from your bill.
The funds are not sent directly to you. Generally, if you’re eligible, the reduction will be applied automatically. If your supplier handles both gas and electricity and you meet the requirements, you may be able to get the reduction on your gas bill instead. Make sure to get in touch with your supplier for further details. This reduction won’t affect your Cold Weather Payment or Winter Fuel Payment.
Who qualifies?
A statement on GOV.UK explains: “Your electricity supplier will apply the discount to your bill. The money is not paid to you. There are different ways to qualify for the Warm Home Discount Scheme depending on where you live. If you live in England and Wales, you qualify if you either get the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit or are on a low income and have high energy costs.”
It continues: “You can still qualify for the discount if you use a pre-pay or pay-as-you-go electricity meter. Your electricity supplier can tell you how you’ll get the discount if you’re eligible, for example, a voucher you can use to top up your meter. You apply a different way if you live in a park home – apply for the Park Homes Warm Home Discount here.”
If you don’t receive the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit, you might still qualify for the Warm Home Discount. You could be eligible if all of the following applied on August 11, 2024:
- your energy supplier is part of the scheme
- 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 electricity bill
This is referred to as being in the ‘core group 2’. The qualifying means-tested benefits are: You could also be eligible if your household income falls below a certain threshold and you receive either:
- Housing Benefit
- income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- Income Support
- the ‘Savings Credit’ part of Pension Credit
- Universal Credit
You could also qualify if your household income falls below a certain threshold and you get either:
- Child Tax Credit
- Working Tax Credit
What will the letter contain?
If you’re eligible for automatic application, the letter will confirm this, and your electricity supplier will apply the discount by the end of March 2026. If you might be eligible but need to provide additional information, the letter will ask that you contact the Warm Home Discount helpline to verify your details before the final claim deadline of 28 February 2026.
How and when is it delivered?
For most eligible customers, the £150 is credited to their electricity bill. This discount is typically applied from October to March each scheme year. If you have a prepayment meter, you’ll usually receive a top-up voucher that you can redeem at a post office or another specified location to get the discount.
Who provides the discount?
Your energy provider offers the Warm Home Discount. If your provider isn’t part of the scheme, you won’t receive the discount. Providers with more than 1,000 customers are legally required to offer the Warm Home Discount. This means that most major UK suppliers, along with other smaller companies with enough customers, must participate. Energy providers that offer the Warm Home Discount include:
- British Gas
- E.ON Next
- EDF Energy
- OVO Energy
- Octopus Energy
- ScottishPower
Other firms participating in the scheme include 100Green, E (Gas and Electricity), Ecotricity, Good Energy, Home Energy, London Power, Outfox the Market, So Energy, Utility Warehouse, among others. Some smaller energy providers voluntarily offer the Warm Home Discount to their customers, even though they’re not obliged to.
How to check if you’re eligible:
If you’re a resident of England or Wales and are receiving the Guarantee Credit part of Pension Credit, you should receive a letter about the discount between October and December. If you don’t get this letter but believe you might be eligible, use the GOV.UK eligibility checker. Alternatively, you can contact your energy supplier directly to enquire about the scheme and confirm your eligibility.
What if you don’t get a letter?
If by mid-January 2026 you haven’t received a letter and believe you qualify, ring the Warm Home Discount helpline on 0800 030 9322 or verify your eligibility online at GOV.UK.
Any crucial points to remember?
The cut-off date for qualifying for the 2025-2026 scheme was 24 August 2025. Households in England and Wales typically don’t need to apply and will automatically receive the discount. If you need to ring the helpline, make sure to do so before the deadline of 28 February 2026.
Martin Lewis explains how energy customers eligible for a warm home discount can claim money off their bill
If you did not get your discount for winter 2024 to 2025:
Contact your electricity supplier if both the following apply:
- you did not get your discount by 31 March 2025
- you have confirmation you were eligible for the scheme for winter 2024 to 2025
You’ll have confirmation you were eligible if you:
- got a letter from the Warm Home Discount Scheme saying you were eligible
- were told you were eligible by the Warm Home Discount Scheme helpline
- were told you were eligible when you applied to your electricity supplier (if you’re on a low income in Scotland)
If your electricity supplier cannot help:
Write to the Warm Home Discount Scheme if you have confirmation you were eligible but your supplier could not give you the discount. You should include:
- your name, address and date of birth
- the reference number from your confirmation letter, if you have one
- the name of your electricity supplier and your account number
- the name of the person on the electricity bill on 11 August 2024 (if it is different to yours)