The Warm Home Discount Scheme provides a one-off £150 reduction on people’s electricity bills – with the personal finance specialist saying recipients get a combined £450 of extra support
12:31, 23 Sep 2025Updated 12:31, 23 Sep 2025
BBC’s Cost of Living correspondent Colletta Smith(Image: BBC)
A BBC expert has revealed how households can secure an additional £150 payment this winter – and pinpointed precisely who qualifies to claim it.
The Warm Home Discount Scheme offers a one-off £150 reduction on electricity bills – with the personal finance specialist emphasising that recipients will receive a total of £450 in extra support when combined with the Winter Fuel Payment.
During an appearance on BBC Morning Live, the BBC’s Cost of Living Correspondent Colletta Smith outlined that eligible individuals will have the amount deducted from their charges, helping them with heating costs.
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Households will receive a total of £450 in extra support combined with the Winter Fuel Payment(Image: BBC)
If they satisfy the requirements for the Warm Home Discount Scheme, their electricity provider will automatically apply the discount to their bill, reports Chronicle Live. Ms Smith said: “It’s opening again this year, and crucially, loads more people will be able to get extra help this year for this one.”
“So it’s £150 and it’s applied directly to your energy account, so it goes through your energy company. Up until now it was just people on certain means tested benefits, but as of this summer, the government said actually this winter we’re going to extend it to a lot more people by including Universal Credit in that list of eligible benefits.”
Eligibility
You qualify if you either:
The qualifying means-tested benefits are:
Housing Benefitincome-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)Income Supportthe ‘Savings Credit’ part of Pension CreditUniversal Credit
Ms Smith stated: “So it’s people on housing benefits, employment and support allowance, jobseekers allowance, income support, and Universal Credit, which means millions more people this winter should again automatically receive this extra cash, which is basically a discount off your energy bills, and it should really help people who are struggling.
READ MORE: 9 ways to save money on your energy bills before the new price cap starts next week
“Crucially, if you’re a pensioner on a low income and you, you fit one of those means tested benefits, you should also still receive the winter fuel payments. So potentially if you’re a low income pensioner, you might get £450 pounds of support this winter with those two schemes combined together which will really help cover that 2% increase we’re seeing in energy bills.”
However, she highlighted that a ‘massive amount’ of benefits currently go unclaimed: “£23 billion in benefits across the board that people either don’t know about or don’t know that they’re entitled to an extra payment. Lots of people perhaps get one benefit, but don’t realise that may well open the door for a lot more benefits that they could get.
“And a lot of people people feel bad about claiming benefits, don’t want to claim it necessarily because they feel like other people are struggling more or need the help more.” She recommended people should visit the government website to locate a benefits calculator, which offers links to numerous benefits calculators.
Ms Smith explained: “Stick in a few details and it should point you in the right direction if you are eligible for that extra benefit help. And for anybody that that that may need financial assistance, they can apply, can’t they, for an interest free budgeting advance loan. A budgeting advance loan, exactly.”
“It’s certainly better than getting a high interest loan or worst of all, turning to a loan shark. This is totally interest free. And it can be up to £800 pounds depending on your circumstances, and the lowest amount you can borrow is £100 . It automatically comes out of your benefits.”
She concluded: “So you just get a little bit less each month or every two weeks whenever your benefits land, you get a little bit less from the government. And you’re effectively paying off that loan over about 2 years, but it could be a real bonus for people who need some help this winter to get them through to make sure that they don’t fall into debt in other ways. “.
To access the government’s benefits calculators resource click here.