As it currently stands, the government's Warm Home Discount scheme requires suppliers with more than 250,000 customer accounts to offer £140 off vulnerable customers' bills.
There are 2 ways to qualify for the Warm Home Discount Scheme:
When switching energy suppliers, it's crucial to take into consideration whether the supplier you're switching to offers the warm home discount.
As part of a government focus on tackling fuel poverty, the threshold for suppliers to participate in the scheme will be lowered; by 2021, energy suppliers with 150,000 customer accounts or more will be obliged to offer the Warm Home Discount.
This change would mean that 97% of the consumer energy market will be covered, making choosing a new supplier when receiving the warm home discount easier, and less likely to result in missing out on the discount.
Low income and vulnerable households who get their energy from smaller suppliers will become eligible resulting in an extra 30,000 pensioners by 2021 receiving the payment.
However, the change will be a stepped approach, giving smaller suppliers time to adapt to the changes.
Claire Osborne, energy expert at Uswitch welcomes the news:
"Requiring more energy suppliers to offer the Warm Home Discount is one of the reforms Uswitch has long called for to help vulnerable customers.
"The Government’s decision is an important step forward and means that more people will be able to switch and access better priced tariffs without worrying about losing their discount.
"However, we hope further reforms will see the scheme being widened and made automatically available to more vulnerable households in the future."
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