Warm Home Discount 2025/2026, check whos name is on your electricity bill.

Newcad

The qualifying rules for the 2025 Warm Home Discount have changed from the 2024 rules- the property size/age rules have been scrapped so more will qualify this year than last year.

The Government have this week issued a Press Release reminding people in receipt of Income Related (means tested) benefits to check that they are named as the billpayer on their electricity bill to be eligible for the 2025 Warm Home Discount.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/reminder-to-eligible-households-to-get-150-off-energy-bills

Every household where the billpayer receives an eligible means-tested benefit will now be in line for the discount, after the government removed restrictions that previously excluded many who needed help with bills.  

In England and Wales, this means households in receipt of Housing Benefit, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, Pension Credit and Universal Credit will now be eligible. 

……... 

The government is now issuing a call to eligible households to check they are named on their electricity bill, with suppliers set to rely on customers’ records as of Sunday 24 August. 

Someone might not be named on their electricity bill if they have recently moved house and changed supplier. 

UPDATE- See the post below about registering for the 2025-2026 WHD if you live in SCOTLAND.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81599499/#Comment_81599499

If you live in ENGLAND or WALES then you do not need to register this year.
All the government are asking that you do at this time is to ensure that if your household is receiving an IR benefit then the person who is receiving the benefit is named as the electricity bill payer.

A further note just to make clear that you do not have to be the named bill payer to get the WHD.

Being the named bill payer just makes it easier for the government to match IR benefit recipients with electricity accounts and tell the supplier to make the WHD credit to the account automatically.

If you are not named as the bill payer, and in some other circumstances, then there will be other ways for the WHD credit to be given to you if you get an IR benefit.

Northern_Wanderer

Just to add, from above link, if you live in SCOTLAND:

If you live in Scotland, are receiving Pension Credit Guarantee Credit and are named on your electricity bill (or your partner or legal representative is), you will likely receive the Warm Home Discount automatically. Scottish households in receipt of other means-tested benefits will need to apply for the discount via their energy supplier directly from October. Application windows will vary depending on the supplier. 

Not automatic unless you get Pension Credit in Scotland. Also, some suppliers accept applications from people on low incomes that are not on means-tested benefits.

What @Newcad says only applies to England & Wales.

Newcad

EDIT: Indeed the qualifying rules in Scotland are different. See the post below this.

Newcad

ADDITIONAL:-

The 2025-2026 scheme is now starting up with some suppliers.

OVO energy have today opened this form for customers in SCOTLAND who may need to register for WHD.

(The form is for customers living in SCOTLAND only, those living in England and Wales do not need to register for this years WHD).

If you do live in SCOTLAND and receive an IR benefit then check if your own supplier has opened registration yet.

If you are an OVO customer, and on IR benefits, in SCOTLAND then you should register with this form:

https://whd.ovoenergy.com/

Northern_Wanderer

Octopus and Scottish/ British Gas schemes open in August. Octopus has some detailed info about this years criteria, so they seem to know something that gov.uk/ OFGEM hasn't published on thier site....

There have been two separate schemes runnning for years, one for Scotland, and one for Eng/Wales. 

Scotland has never had the property based scheme and you've always had to apply for WHD if not on PC.

lunacosmic

I would like to warn some people about the WARM HOME GRANT for insulation and replacement boilers. I have applied for three OAPs on the grounds that the income has to be under £36K. However, the grants are being administered by private companies not the COUNCILS, so they are asking you to send your private financial records to them if you are not on benefits. I saw nothing wrong in this as 'proof of eligibility' or proof of ID, and one document I added was an inland Revenue document that showed with all pensions and income the applicants were within eligibility, so imagine my shock when one of the companies (which are funded by the energy companies) asked me to give details of one of the transactions on the bank statement and that these were not simply proof of id but were being interogated by the employees of these businesses. I withdrew when the organisation scanned an entry from my OAPs bank statement and sent in (without encryption or password) in an email asking if I might tell them to whom or from whom the money came as if this was being means tested for benefits! I also found the notion that someone was interogating entries of a private nature as if they were the DWP or Inland Revenue in open hackable emails (that were not password protected and not encrypted but were directly cut and paste from my OAPs bank stateent entry listing banking references !!)  as frightening misuse of our confidential banking documentation - and which we had sent as harcopy only via post and not electronically but also would never simply cut and paste an entry into an email of confidential banking transactions !. I thus advised my OAPs to withdraw, when another company, sent a form marked 'means tested' when we had been told that his medical conditions could be used to gain the grant for a new boiler and loft insulation, if he was also under the income threshold stipulated. What I am concerned about is that DWP are always interested in savings, not just income from savings whereas INLAND REVENUE list income, with pensions and so there is a sufficient document (a P60 tax return) that shows what income is being gained from savings and pensions and that this is under the stipulated income threshold.  Thus is looking like a deeply troubling abuse of an applicant's personal financial records by companies that are too interested in the details of applicants' banking transactions.  My view is that these private businesses are stating the documentation is proof of eligibility of under an income of £36K per annum, as a threshold but then trying to investigate how much money OAPs have both in property and in savings, as if it is a benefit application, like DWP but without the protection and confidentiality of a government department.  It is not confusing on the UK Gov website that if you are not on benefits then you can still claim the grant if you have an income less than £37K, so why this invasive interogation?  As these are businesses and thus not under the general legislation covered for council or UK Government employees I would suggest to all persons to be more suspicious of what these businesses are actually doing with your loved ones' personal and very private financial data. We withdrew immediately and I requested a return of all documentation and insisted on all data records under the GDPR to remove my OAPs personal data from the application and their computer systems. As to whether such private companies abide by this request once they have accessed your private banking references is now a nightmare to me especially as OAPs are frequently the target of frauds, and why I would prefer the applicaiton is handled by a government body and officer not private enterprises. Anyone else concerned?