GRANTS GUIDE
Warm Home Discount 2026: £150 Payment, Eligibility & Automatic Awards
The Warm Home Discount is a £150 rebate on your winter electricity bill, paid between October and March.
Check eligibilityLast updated May 2026
The Warm Home Discount is a £150 rebate on your winter electricity bill, paid between October and March.
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Eligibility at a glance
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The Warm Home Discount is a one-off £150 rebate on your winter electricity bill, paid directly by your energy supplier.
It runs every year from October to March, with around 3 million households receiving the payment in the 2024-25 scheme year. The discount appears as a credit on your electricity account, not as a cash payment, although prepayment customers usually receive a voucher they can redeem at top-up points. The scheme is funded by an obligation placed on larger energy suppliers under regulations administered by DESNZ and Ofgem, not from general taxation.
The scheme has run since 2011 but was substantially reformed in 2022 for England and Wales, removing the application-based Broader Group and replacing it with an automatic eligibility check based on benefits data and property characteristics. Scotland kept the older system, where households apply directly to their supplier.
The rebate was £140 from 2014 to 2021. It rose to £150 for the 2022-23 scheme year and has stayed there since. Whether £150 keeps pace with electricity standing charges and unit rates is a separate question entirely.
For winter 2025-26 the property "high-cost-to-heat" test was scrapped. All bill-payers in England and Wales named on the electricity account who receive a qualifying means-tested benefit on the qualifying date now qualify automatically.
The eligibility checker confirms whether you’re in Core Group 1, Core Group 2, or eligible through ECO4 and other winter support schemes.
Scotland operates a different model. There’s no automatic Core Group 2 — instead, energy suppliers run their own application processes for the Broader Group, with criteria varying by supplier. If you’re in Scotland on benefits but not on Pension Credit Guarantee Credit, you usually need to apply directly to your electricity supplier between roughly October and early winter. Spaces fill up fast and the schemes close once supplier quotas are reached.
DESNZ matches DWP benefits data against your electricity supplier's customer records to apply the £150 credit automatically.
From 2022 the matching has been automatic — you no longer apply to your supplier. From October 2025, the property "high-cost-to-heat" filter that previously narrowed Core Group 2 was scrapped, so any qualifying benefit on the qualifying date is enough. You receive a letter in October or November confirming the rebate.
The "high-cost-to-heat" property test operated from 2022 to early 2025 and used property age, type (detached, semi, flat), floor area, and council tax band as proxies. It excluded some genuinely cold homes and frustrated households whose property data classified them as efficient. The government scrapped the test for most Core Group 2 households from winter 2025-26, following its June 2025 consultation response.
If the DWP automatic match misses you (most commonly after a house move or supplier switch), call the Warm Home Discount helpline on 0800 030 9322 — not your supplier, who cannot trigger the rebate without DWP confirmation.
The biggest change is that DESNZ removed the high-cost-to-heat property test for most Core Group 2 households from October 2025.
Under the 2025 reforms, an extra 2.7 million households now qualify because the property test was scrapped for most working-age benefits claimants. If you receive Universal Credit, you’re likely in this year’s scheme even if you weren’t last year.
DESNZ consulted on this change in early 2025 and confirmed it in the response published in June 2025. The aim is to remove the postcode lottery effect that frustrated households who clearly couldn’t afford their bills but were told their property wasn’t expensive enough to heat. The total number of recipients rose from around 3 million in 2024-25 to a projected 6.1 million in 2025-26.
The rebate amount stayed at £150. The funding for the increase comes from a larger obligation placed on energy suppliers, which is recovered through everyone’s standing charges. Ofgem confirmed the additional cost works out at roughly £15 per non-eligible household across the year.
Most payments are credited between October and 31 March, with letters confirming the rebate landing from October onwards.
DWP and DESNZ take a snapshot of who was claiming a qualifying benefit on the qualifying date (24 August 2025 for the 2025-26 scheme).
From October, eligible households receive a letter confirming the rebate. Core Group 1 letters go out earliest; Core Group 2 letters follow through November.
Your supplier credits £150 directly to your electricity account. Credit balance customers see it as a reduction; debit balance customers see it offset against what’s owed.
If you switch suppliers between the qualifying date and when the rebate would have been paid, the original supplier still owes you the discount. They’ll either credit a closed account (which you can then claim as a refund) or transfer the rebate to your new supplier. This is the most common reason people think they’ve missed out — they’ve actually been paid by the previous supplier and don’t realise.
Call the Warm Home Discount helpline on 0800 030 9322 before contacting your supplier.
The helpline can confirm whether you’re on the eligibility list, when your letter was issued, and which supplier is responsible. About 90% of "missing" rebate queries are resolved at this stage because the customer either missed the letter, switched supplier, or wasn’t on the qualifying benefit on the qualifying date.
If the helpline confirms you’re eligible but the supplier hasn’t paid, escalate to the supplier’s complaints team. They’re bound by Ofgem rules to apply the rebate by 31 March. If they miss that deadline without good reason, the Energy Ombudsman can order compensation on top of the £150.
Warm Home Discount scams to watch for
Genuine Warm Home Discount communications come by post from your electricity supplier or the scheme administrator. Be wary of:
The £150 stacks with the Winter Fuel Payment, Cold Weather Payment, and Pension Credit, but it’s separate from energy grant schemes like ECO4.
For pensioners on Pension Credit, the combined support can reach £600-£800 across a winter — Winter Fuel Payment (£200-£300 from 2025-26 after the means-test reform), Warm Home Discount (£150), and Cold Weather Payments (£25 per qualifying week if there’s a sustained cold spell). The Winter Fuel Payment was restricted to Pension Credit recipients only from winter 2024-25, although the government partially reversed this in summer 2025 — check current eligibility before assuming you’re covered.
The Warm Home Discount doesn’t affect ECO4 eligibility or vice versa. If you qualify for both, you get both. ECO4 funds physical home upgrades like boiler replacements and insulation; the Warm Home Discount is a cash rebate on bills.
Local council schemes, supplier hardship funds, and the Household Support Fund cover households who fall outside the Warm Home Discount.
Best for
Anyone struggling with energy or food costs, regardless of benefits
What it pays
Varies by council — typically £50-£300 in vouchers or direct payments
Main catch
Each council runs its own scheme with different rules and timing
Runs until
March 2026 (extension under review)
Best for
Customers in arrears with their energy supplier
What it pays
Debt write-off, payment plan reductions, or one-off grants up to £2,000
Main catch
Each supplier sets its own criteria — British Gas Energy Trust is open to all suppliers’ customers; others are supplier-only
Runs until
Ongoing
For longer-term help with bill costs, the better answer is fixing the home itself. A new boiler, loft insulation, or cavity wall insulation can cut annual heating bills by £200-£500 — far more than the Warm Home Discount over time. ECO4 and the Warm Homes: Local Grant fund these upgrades for eligible households.
ECO4 Scheme Guide
Full boiler replacements, insulation and heating controls — funded for households on qualifying benefits.
Read guideFree Boiler Scheme UK
The marketing name for ECO4 boiler funding. Eligibility, application steps, and what to watch out for.
Read guideEnergy Grants for Pensioners
Pension Credit, Warm Home Discount and ECO4 — how the over-66 cohort stacks the available support.
Read guideCold Weather Payment
£25 per qualifying cold spell — who gets it automatically and what triggers it.
Read guideCommon questions
If you’re on a traditional prepayment meter, your supplier sends a Post Office, PayPoint, or Payzone voucher to redeem at a top-up point. Smart prepay accounts get the credit applied automatically.