Warm Home Discount to increase to £150 in October

The Warm Home Discount will increase to £150 in October 2022 and its coverage will extend to assist three million people, according to the British Energy Security Strategy published in April 2022¹. The scheme, which the strategy describes as part of the government's immediate support on energy bills, previously paid £140².

The increase sits alongside a wider package of bill support set out for the same period. The strategy confirms "a £200 reduction in energy bills from October for all households in Great Britain through the Energy Bills Support Scheme"¹. The Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering, reporting in February 2022, said that discount would be repayable, recovered automatically in equal £40 payments over five years, and that it applied to domestic electricity customers in England, Scotland and Wales². The same body reported a £150m package for energy customers in Northern Ireland and a £150 Council Tax Energy Rebate in April 2022 for households in England in Council Tax bands A to D, which did not need to be repaid².

On the discount itself, the industry body's wording was precise about scale: eligibility would "expand by almost a third to benefit three million vulnerable households" and the payment would "increase from £140 to £150 from October"². Which? described the scheme as available to pensioners and those who get certain benefits, and separately noted that those born before 26 September 1955 can claim a Winter Fuel Payment of £100 to £300 per winter³.

The rise arrived against a steep backdrop. Ofgem confirmed a 54 per cent rise in the energy price cap from April 2022, from £1,277 set in October 2021 to £1,971². Which? later reported that the new price cap was set to push bills up by 80 per cent from 1 October for those on variable energy tariffs³.

Why it matters for households

The discount is a direct reduction applied to an eligible household's electricity bill, so its value to a home's energy independence is measured in the bills it removes rather than in anything it changes about how a home is heated. At £150 it offsets a small share of an annual bill that, on the price cap figures reported for the same month, rose by far more². The expansion of eligibility matters more than the £10 increase, because it brings roughly a third more households into a scheme that had previously reached a narrower group².

The strategy frames the discount as immediate support while the longer-term aim is to reduce dependence on imported oil and gas¹. For a household, the practical distinction is between money that lowers a bill in a given year and measures that lower the underlying demand for energy. The strategy states that energy efficiency measures had already saved households on the lowest incomes around £300 a year, and commits to expanding the Energy Company Obligation to £1 billion per year from 2022 to 2026¹. Which? put the running costs of individual appliances under the October cap at more than £117 a year for a washing machine and up to £260 for a condenser tumble dryer³.

What happens next

The strategy sets a 2035 date by which the government intends to phase out the sale of new and replacement gas boilers, and commits to zero-rating VAT for the next five years on the installation of energy saving materials, including insulation and low carbon heating¹. Which? reported in October 2022 that the energy price guarantee for all households would run for just six months, until April 2023⁵. The sources do not state the discount's value or eligibility for the following year; that has not been reported.

Sources5 cited

1. British Energy Security Strategy, data.parliament.uk
2. The energy price cap explained, ciphe.org.uk
3. Which? Money-Saving Monday: Save on appliance running costs - Which?, which.co.uk
4. Energy price disaster looms, ciphe.org.uk
5. Which? Money-Saving Monday: Cut the cost of heating bills this winter - Which?, which.co.uk