Warm Home Discount for those who have electricity sub-meters

durhamboy

Every year the WHD comes round, and every year theres a large group of private renters who could get it but they cant because their landlord has chosen to supply their property via a sub-meter. 

(This is where the landlord has a supply agreement typically for a number of properties in the block, and each of those is then charged via a prepayment sub-meter. The landlord isnt the electricity supplier as per the legislation for WHD but nor is the meter provider). As a result, the £150 payment isnt accessible. This is an annual event - the govt have known about this ever since WHD was introduced). 

In 2022 Citizens Advice estimated there were nearly 600k tenants who might be in this position.

(I would post a link - but my account here is too new for that it seems) - perhaps 1 in 8 according to them that year.

This isnt a fault of the meter suppliers - it's the law. Nor of your landlord - they cant get access to the money either even just to pass it on. It's wothe govt.

Two meter providers I know of (im sure there are others, and I dont say either of these is doing anything amiss or could do anything more than they are) are 

- Topupmeters - who published a support page about it in January 2024: 

- Meterpay  (.net) 

Both of these sell the sub-meters to the landlord, then levy a small charge for the ongoing operation of the service supporting the meter. The landlord has the supply contract with the industry, then divides up the bill (it's illegal to make a profit on this) between their tenants via the submeters. Tennants have to top up to use energy, typically via the meter providers website.

Who typically gets these meters? If you're in a property like a converted office block, it's likely to be via this method. Some build-to-rent schemes too. And more Will be converted houses where the landlord just sublets rooms/flats. 

So why doesnt the government update the legislation - they seem to do so anyways each year for other reasons - to include this group of customers? Theyve expanded the IT and law used so that any electricity company supplying more than 1000 customers must get itself included; when the scheme started it was more like 250000.  These submeter companies certainly seem to have more than 1000 meters - but arent actually energy supply contracts. It seems that the data matching systems already in place to work with the electric companies could be extended to cover the submeters, since the landlord has to register them etc for the property concerned. 

 Alternatively, couldnt the govt put in place an alternative payment system eg via the local authority, like they did with (I seem to remember) some of the Covid support payments.

Has anyone with a submeter had any luck getting payment? Or even their MP to support getting the payment in future?

Spoonie_Turtle

It appears you are new here so you may not be aware that forum (and particularly this board) is not for political discussion. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/365935/its-about-helping-people-get-their-entitlement-not-about-benefits-policy 

However, just to mention some facts about the WHD scheme in response to parts of your post:

The WHD is an arrangement whereby Ofgem requires domestic suppliers to spend a certain amount of money supporting certain customers, an 'industry initiative'.  The way it works could not feasibly extend to people on sub-meters, and crucially it is funded by the (domestic) suppliers themselves.  So any alternative payment system via local authorities would require a different source of funding (whereas if I'm remembering correctly, the EBSS and equivalents were all funded by the government whichever route the support took, via the suppliers or via local authorities).

The closest arrangement outside of the mandated WHD is probably that for Park Homes; I don't know exactly how that works nor who funds it.

QrizB

Whenever WHD gets discussed on the Energy forum (where discussion of policy is slightly more tolerated) a common conclusion is that it's a stealth tax on households and a poor substitute for paying it "properly" via the benefits system.

Ditto ECO4 and all the other bits of social policy that governments have decided over the years to hide inside energy bills.

durhamboy

Spoonie_Turtle said:

The WHD is an arrangement whereby Ofgem requires domestic suppliers to spend a certain amount of money supporting certain customers, an 'industry initiative'.  The way it works could not feasibly extend to people on sub-meters, and crucially it is funded by the (domestic) suppliers themselves.  So any alternative payment system via local authorities would require a different source of funding (whereas if I'm remembering correctly, the EBSS and equivalents were all funded by the government whichever route the support took, via the suppliers or via local authorities).

The closest arrangement outside of the mandated WHD is probably that for Park Homes; I don't know exactly how that works nor who funds it.

Valid points, but to those who get the £150, the funding source is immaterial - to them it's a benefit like any other. If it looks and quacks ... etc
As someone else replied, this is somewhat of a stealth tax on other electricity customers - a redistribution system where the govt provides the authorisation, not the funds, for who gets it. Thats an implementation choice, and doesnt preclude other ways too.  
And as such, like other benefits where there is a glitch or hurdle in the system for some (one that has existed under successive govts), I thought it worth asking to see if anyone had got anywhere with their own situation to see some progress (real, or at least in support).