Warm Home Discount Checker

Robbie64

For people such as myself who have yet to hear about whether the person is eligible for the Warm Home Discount, I've just looked and the Warm Home Discount checker tool is now working.

https://www.gov.uk/check-if-youre-eligible-for-warm-home-discount

Robbie64

As I expected, it shows that I am eligible although I have yet to hear aything about this. This is the same as last winter and was the cause of much frustration trying to get it sorted - I didn't receive any credit on my electricity account until just before 31 March 2023 and had to make three calls to the WHD helpline to get them to trigger the credit. I don't know why this match isn't being done automatically for some account holders.

The checker gives me the following outcome:

You are eligible - you need to contact us

Reference number [deleted]

What does this mean?

You are eligible to get £150 off your electricity bill this winter.

This has been determined by:

• The benefits you were in receipt of on 13 August 2023
• The type, age, and size of the property you lived in on 13 August 2023 (as recorded on your property's Energy Performance Certificate)
• Your electricity account (according to the information you have provided)

What happens next

You need to contact the Warm Home Discount helpline to claim your rebate by 29 February 2024. The details are below

Further assistance

When getting in touch, please keep your reference number to hand.

Reference number: [deleted]

If you have received a letter from us, you should also have the reference number from your letter to hand. This can be found at the top left of your letter.

Any rebate claims must be made by 29 February 2024.

• Telephone: 0800 030 9322
• Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm (except public holidays)

Alternatively, you can write to us at:

110552 Warm Home Discount Scheme
PO Box 26965
Glasgow
G1 9BW

Spoonie_Turtle

Depending on what kind of MP you have, might be worth complaining because if you're in the same property as last year, clearly whatever's going wrong in the system hasn't been corrected and you should not have to chase it up every year. 

Plus if it happening to you again then no doubt it's happening to others as well, potentially including people who for whatever reason aren't able to chase it like you did.

Robbie64

I phoned up the Warm Home Discount helpline. The phone call lasted 40 minutes. The operative I spoke to said that according to their records I didn't qualify as it wasn't showing as a high cost heating property. I gave him my reference number and he then ran some checks and said it was now showing that I qualified. It took quite some time to get the system to show that I qualify and do what it needed to do to trigger a payment from my energy supplier. I must have given my address at least 5 times, my date of birth twice and my name countless times. I also had to give my electricity account number AND my meter point reference number too to confirm all details matched. How on earth can people qualify for a WHD despite not being an account holder when this level of detail is held by the DWP to match records?

This is almost a carbon copy of what happened when I phoned up in February to query why I hadn't had a WHD last winter. One question after another and then i had to do it all again a month later when nothing turned up on my electricity account - the system had failed to generate authorisation for my energy provider to pay a WHD. It took 3 calls in total to trigger a payment.

Hopefully this is as far as it goes this time before a payment arrives on my electricity account.

HillStreetBlues

Thanks for posting checker, I had given up trying as it wasn't working.

Just been looking at my WHD 10 years ago
In 2013-14 my WHD paid all my electric standing charge (I don't have gas) and still had £80 left over. (£135 WDH - £55 SC)
In 2023-24  it's now a £70 shortfall (£150 WHD - £220 SC

mrpinc

I've just used the checker tool only to discover that I'm suddenly not eligible despite nothing having changed other than octopus taking over from bulb. I had months of arguing with octopus last year before they finally awarded me the WHD as a "goodwill gesture." When bulb went into receivership I got a number of emails assuring me I would still receive the payment and that it would be honoured by my new provider. I hardly use the only heater I have because my social housing bungalow only has electricity. I barely use the cooker, I use a microwave, (which I know uses a lot of power but is very fast), I put the immersion heater on for an hour each morning in the colder months, half an hour in the warmer ones. I'll have to stop doing that. I use the electric shower once a week or less in winter as the bathrooms freezing (yes, I probably am disgusting). I watch little television. I use the washing machine once a week and have a small fridge and small freezer all of which are essential. I receive income related esa and housing benefit which would qualify me, but due to long term illness I also receive Pip. This has never affected my eligibility before but I wonder if it is now? The message I received was that my home doesn't qualify. There have been no changes at all to the property. It has no central heating and no cavity insulation. The doors and windows don't fit and the energy rating is E so I'm baffled. I wear layers indoors, cover myself with throws and my dog wears coats. He doesnt wear them outdoors, just inside where he's not active, he's an older dog with arthritis. People think I'm crazy but what am I supposed to do to keep him (and myself) warm?! I have so much stress trying to sort numerous things out at the moment, just discovering this is yet another kick in the teeth. No idea what I'll do when it gets really cold in Jan and Feb. 

Spoonie_Turtle

mrpinc said:

I've just used the checker tool only to discover that I'm suddenly not eligible despite nothing having changed other than octopus taking over from bulb. I had months of arguing with octopus last year before they finally awarded me the WHD as a "goodwill gesture."

When bulb went into receivership I got a number of emails assuring me I would still receive the payment and that it would be honoured by my new provider.

I hardly use the only heater I have because my social housing bungalow only has electricity. I barely use the cooker, I use a microwave, (which I know uses a lot of power but is very fast), I put the immersion heater on for an hour each morning in the colder months, half an hour in the warmer ones. I'll have to stop doing that. I use the electric shower once a week or less in winter as the bathrooms freezing (yes, I probably am disgusting). I watch little television. I use the washing machine once a week and have a small fridge and small freezer all of which are essential.

I receive income related esa and housing benefit which would qualify me, but due to long term illness I also receive Pip. This has never affected my eligibility before but I wonder if it is now?

The message I received was that my home doesn't qualify. There have been no changes at all to the property. It has no central heating and no cavity insulation. The doors and windows don't fit and the energy rating is E so I'm baffled.

I wear layers indoors, cover myself with throws and my dog wears coats. He doesnt wear them outdoors, just inside where he's not active, he's an older dog with arthritis. People think I'm crazy but what am I supposed to do to keep him (and myself) warm?! I have so much stress trying to sort numerous things out at the moment, just discovering this is yet another kick in the teeth. No idea what I'll do when it gets really cold in Jan and Feb. 

Paragraphs added for readability.

Unfortunately they changed the WHD criteria last year so the receipt of certain benefits alone is no longer enough to qualify someone.  Each property is given a notional energy costs score based on age, type, and size.  If your home clears the threshold and you receive an applicable benefit, you qualify.  If your home's score is too low, you don't.  And to emphasise, this is a notional score using a formula, it doesn't take into account how much heating anyone's house *actually* needs.

So the problem you had last year was evidently that you weren't entitled to it then either, but were fortunate to get a goodwill payment.

What type of heating do you have, and what type of tariff are you on?  I'd suggest posting over on the energy board for help, because what you describe is no way to have to live.

The council or housing association are responsible for making sure your bungalow is sufficiently habitable.  I can't advise whether that's an avenue of investigation but hopefully others will know, either here, on the energy board, or on the housing board.

Robbie64

An update on my Warm Home Discount payment. Basically nothing has arrived nor have I had any letter from the DWP to say I qualify. I phoned back to the Warm Home Discount helpline last week and was told an instruction to pay had been sent to my supplier (EDF). A call to EDF revcealed that they had received nothing from the DWP. So I phoned back to the WHD helpline. The person I spoke to re-sent the instruction to pay (or said they had just resent it but didn't sound very convincing). This is definitely the same mess as last winter which I outlined in another thread in February / March / April. I'll leave it until the end of January and if I've heard nothing I'll start phoning again.

HillStreetBlues

Robbie64 said:

An update on my Warm Home Discount payment. Basically nothing has arrived nor have I had any letter from the DWP to say I qualify. I phoned back to the Warm Home Discount helpline last week and was told an instruction to pay had been sent to my supplier (EDF). A call to EDF revcealed that they had received nothing from the DWP. So I phoned back to the WHD helpline. The person I spoke to re-sent the instruction to pay (or said they had just resent it but didn't sound very convincing). This is definitely the same mess as last winter which I outlined in another thread in February / March / April. I'll leave it until the end of January and if I've heard nothing I'll start phoning again.

It's one of the most frustrating situations, stuck in the middle  while they point the finger at each other.
The fact you never got a letter from the DWP makes me lean towards them where fault lays.

gbhxu

Remember, WHD can be paid anytime up to the end of March 2024!

EDF may have got the authorization to pay, but it's up to them when they pay it.

kkkklinky

Apparently because of the small size of my flat and the fact I have an E energy rating I'm not eligible. Ive never been eligible though so nothing new there. It's bizarre I have no double glazing or insulation and my flat is so cold my hamster died but apparently i don't qualify.