Energy news in general

debitcardmayhem

Phones4Chris said:

Scot_39 said:

Phones4Chris said:

mmmmikey said

And those on a better Final Salary Pension (for which they paid their contributions) they will pay tax on the WFP, another fact I think you are forgetting. Let's leave it at that.

WFP wasn't taxable before and paid iirc per household.

Ah, you noticed the tax aspect. And that is also something that should have been done years ago.
The WFP always was split between the eligible members of the household and AIUI the new rules are household income of £35K, so partners of those paying high rate tax will not be able to have/keep the payment.

Have they said what the new rules are? I thought that would be covered in the autumn statement/budget.

Phones4Chris

debitcardmayhem said:

Phones4Chris said:

Scot_39 said:

Phones4Chris said:

mmmmikey said

And those on a better Final Salary Pension (for which they paid their contributions) they will pay tax on the WFP, another fact I think you are forgetting. Let's leave it at that.

WFP wasn't taxable before and paid iirc per household.

Ah, you noticed the tax aspect. And that is also something that should have been done years ago.
The WFP always was split between the eligible members of the household and AIUI the new rules are household income of £35K, so partners of those paying high rate tax will not be able to have/keep the payment.

Have they said what the new rules are? I thought that would be covered in the autumn statement/budget.

I've a feeling you are correct, as ML's explanation seems to think the "claw-back" is not based on Household income, but that's not what I thought I heard in some political statement. So we'll have to wait and see which is correct.

QrizB

Phones4Chris said:

AIUI the new rules are household income of £35K, so partners of those paying high rate tax will not be able to have/keep the payment.

The folk in the big WFP thread on the Pensions sub-forum all think it's based on individual income, not household. So a household with one under-£35k and one over-£35k would keep £100 (or £150, as the case may be).

Chrysalis

MSE_ForumTeam5 said:

We've removed some posts from this thread. A gentle reminder, please, to keep to the MoneySaving aspects of energy news in this thread, rather than politics and geopolitics.

Thank you for explaining, but you need to be consistent, it wasnt a clean sweep.
I think it also might be worth making this thread a news submit only, but no discussions thread, as inevitably a big chunk of what is posted here is political in nature, a lot of it is treading water.  Or exclude any news related to Ofgem (a political regulator) and government policies such as WFA and WHD.

Phones4Chris

Chrysalis said:

MSE_ForumTeam5 said:

We've removed some posts from this thread. A gentle reminder, please, to keep to the MoneySaving aspects of energy news in this thread, rather than politics and geopolitics.

Thank you for explaining, but you need to be consistent, it wasnt a clean sweep.
I think it also might be worth making this thread a news submit only, but no discussions thread, as inevitably a big chunk of what is posted here is political in nature, a lot of it is treading water.  Or exclude any news related to Ofgem (a political regulator) and government policies such as WFA and WHD.

Personally I think that is a ridiculous idea, and in particular news relating to OFGEM is especially important.

Scot_39

Phones4Chris said:

Scot_39 said:

Phones4Chris said:

mmmmikey said

And those on a better Final Salary Pension (for which they paid their contributions) they will pay tax on the WFP, another fact I think you are forgetting. Let's leave it at that.

WFP wasn't taxable before and paid iirc per household.

Ah, you noticed the tax aspect. And that is also something that should have been done years ago.
The WFP always was split between the eligible members of the household and AIUI the new rules are household income of £35K, so partners of those paying high rate tax will not be able to have/keep the payment.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2025/06/winter-fuel-payment-criteria-confirmed/

2. Next, the payments are means-tested based on your individual income. If you both individually earn £35,000 or less, you keep the lot. If either of you earns above £35,000 a year, your portion will be clawed back (but the other keeps their portion unless they too earn above £35,000).

I'll maybe revisit IFS site in a bit too

Phones4Chris

@Scot_39 all you are doing is regurgitating something that has already been address here -
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81493052/#Comment_81493052
The official Autumn Statement will no doubt clarify matters.

Scot_39

No - the MSE link specifically says criteria confirmed.

Now maybe they are jumping the gun - maybe not.

But that section and the sections in the FAQ make clear distinctions between those on pension credit or other means tested qualifying benefits and wfp and those obviously then potentially subject to the new tax clawback.

The whole point of the early announcement is NOT to wait until the official autumn statement.

Maybe for political reasons, maybe for genuine administration reason.  As by then it would have been arguably too late to pay it,  just as arguably it would have been too late to cancel last year if left until last years budget.

Only the final cummulative cost figure - to be verified by OBR and the funding of the amount - amongst any other changes today - has been pushed to autumn is how I read this

 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nine-million-pensioners-to-receive-winter-fuel-payments-this-winter

The amount the approx estimated £1.25bn for Eng and Wales specified - the uplift for Scotland and NI - havent seen corresponding figures yet - or changes by Holyrood to say the Scottish £100 or pension credit £203 £305 to reflect this yet.

And the fact it will be recovered through personal tax calcs or personal self assessment. 

We do not have "married filing jointly" status in UK - to use an Americanism - as they can optionaly choose to.

The link also "justifies" the choice of the £35,000 (as seen that question asked elsewhere) as "broadly in line with average UK earnings"

VoucherMan

Interesting bit on the BBC's spending review page.

I'm one of those who often moans, albeit to myself, about the standing charge, especially as I can never find a reasonable simple breakdown of where it all goes, but a little over 3p a day to build a fairly reliable, long term supply sound like a bargain to me. Maybe a couple more to help keep the bills down when I'm older, but that's probably staying in fantasy land for now.

6. Changes to your energy bill

It is quite difficult to get your head around the numbers involved in the mammoth project to build a new nuclear power plant.

A total of £17.8bn of taxpayers' money has been pledged for the new Sizewell C plant in Suffolk to date.

The Treasury will borrow that money, but the interest on that debt is paid for through household energy bills. The government estimates that will be about £1 a month on a bill.

However, ministers stress that longer-term - perhaps in about 10 years' time - this domestically generated power will reduce household bills significantly, compared with bills had the plant not been built.

The chancellor also confirmed its manifesto plan to improve insulation in homes in order to reduce energy use and therefore bills.

Scot_39

The key bit there is compared with.

It's based on a forecast of its cost (agreed ovef a decade ago essentially as part of Hinkley C twin plant rate deal. At 2012 rares - £89.50 - plus indexing. Todays after indexing c£130/MWh as above post and by 2035+  £xxx ) vs likely increased costs for current energy mix.

It's not an absolute reduction on current.

Example, right now if generating = CfD of £130 is c3x this years average day ahead rates (in £40-45 range)  - but 6x last summers lows for months of around £20-25.

In 2015 renewables - contracts were awarded at upto £120/MWh - with indexing £170 today.  But had been dropping until last year(*)


Maybe understandable if look at whats going on elsewhere in our future mix.

Last renewables round saw a 57% increase (*) in 2 years vs 2022 round 4 lows for similar 3+ GW of Fixed off shore wind capacity vs what Sizewell will produce regardless of wind speeds.  (And upping previously agreed costs in those cheap  round 4 licenses for c1.5GW more by not that much less - to prevent more cancellations).

Or a forecast £8bn in balancing costs - £250+ on average for every UK connection - £3bn of that grid thermal to renewables alone - by 2030.