Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government taken to help increase energy suppliers outreach programmes that help people with prepayment meters to apply for the Warm Home Discount scheme.

In the 2021/22 scheme year, all low-income pensioners who are potentially eligible for a rebate under the Warm Home Discount Core Group will have received a letter from the Government by mid-December 2021, regardless of their energy bill payment method. Most will receive the rebate automatically; in 2020/21, around 95% of Core Group recipients received their rebates automatically. In addition, the Warm Home Discount website is widely signposted and used by consumer groups, charities, and energy comparison websites to maximise uptake.

Energy suppliers are responsible for administering their Broader Group rebates, including setting their eligibility criteria and providing the rebates to eligible households. Suppliers make their customers aware of the scheme and are usually over-subscribed with applications.

We consulted last summer on reforms to the scheme that would enable the vast majority of customers to receive their rebate automatically, without the need to apply. We will publish the Government’s Response in the spring, with the reforms coming into force from the 2022/23 scheme year.