By Charlotte Smith

Copyright manchestereveningnews

The Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) is going to start posting letters regarding the 2025/26 Warm Home Discount scheme to qualifying households from today (October 20, 2025). These letters should be delivered to all eligible people by around the start of January 2026. The letters will confirm your eligibility for a £150 discount from the DWP on your energy bills. They will also either indicate that the discount will be applied automatically or advise you to contact the Warm Home Discount helpline to verify your information. Those who qualify do not receive the money directly. Instead, the DWP issues energy providers with the £150 Warm Home Discount from October to March every year. This DWP discount is then credited to your electricity account as a one-time credit, or, for those with prepayment meters, it may be provided as a top-up voucher. The scheme is financed by the energy companies involved, which apply the discount to the bills of qualifying customers during this timeframe. The Warm Home Discount Scheme offers a one-time discount of £150 on your electricity bill. If you qualify, your electricity provider will deduct the discount from your bill. The funds are not sent directly to you. Typically, if you qualify, the discount will be applied automatically. If your supplier provides both gas and electricity and you meet the eligibility criteria, you might be able to receive the discount on your gas bill instead. Be sure to contact your supplier for more information. This discount will not impact your Cold Weather Payment or Winter Fuel Payment. A statement on GOV.UK says: “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 adds: “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 do not get the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit , you may still be eligible for the Warm Home Discount. You may be eligible if all of the following applied on August 11, 2024: This is known as being in the ‘core group 2’. The qualifying means-tested benefits are: You could also qualify if your household income falls below a certain threshold and you get either: If you qualify for automatic application, the letter will verify this, and your electricity supplier will apply the discount by the end of March 2026. If you may be eligible but need to supply additional information, the letter will request that you contact the Warm Home Discount helpline to confirm your details before the final claim deadline of February 28, 2026. For the majority of eligible customers, the £150 is credited to their electricity bill. This discount is usually applied from October to March during each scheme year. If you have a prepayment meter, you will generally receive a top-up voucher that you can redeem at a post office or another specified location to obtain the discount. Your energy provider offers the Warm Home Discount. If your provider is not included in the scheme, you will not get the discount. Providers with more than 1,000 customers must legally offer the Warm Home Discount. This means that most major UK suppliers, along with other smaller companies with enough customers, are required to participate. Energy providers that offer the Warm Home Discount include: Other suppliers involved in the scheme are 100Green, E (Gas and Electricity), Ecotricity, Good Energy, Home Energy, London Power, Outfox the Market, So Energy, Utility Warehouse, and more. A few smaller energy providers choose to provide the Warm Home Discount to their customers, even though they are not required to. If you live in England or Wales and are receiving the Guarantee Credit portion of Pension Credit, you can expect to get a letter regarding the discount sometime between October and December. Should you not receive this letter but think you may qualify, use the GOV.UK eligibility checker . There is also the option to reach out to your energy supplier directly to ask about the scheme and verify your eligibility. If you haven’t received a letter by mid-January 2026 and think you qualify, contact the Warm Home Discount helpline at 0800 030 9322 or check your eligibility online on GOV.UK . The deadline for qualifying for the 2025-2026 scheme was August 24, 2025. Households in England and Wales typically do not need to submit an application and will automatically receive the discount. If you need to contact the helpline, do so before the deadline of February 28, 2026.