Save up to £300 this winter on utility bills | Tenant news

You could save up to £300 on your electricity costs over the winter through a number of government schemes to help you pay your utility bills.

If you’re on a low income or receiving financial support, here are some winter fuel payment schemes you may be eligible for to help keep you warm this winter.

Warm Home Discount Scheme

You could save £140 on your electricity bill for winter 2020-2021 with the Warm Home Discount Scheme.

You’re entitled to receive the Warm Home Discount Scheme if you:

• get the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit, or
• are on a low income and meet your energy supplier’s criteria for the scheme.

The scheme gives a one-off payment, which is applied directly to your electricity bill, between September 2020 and March 2021.

Find out more about the Warm Home Discount Scheme and how you can apply.

Cold Weather Payment

You can get £25 towards your electricity bill, if the average temperature in your area is recorded as, or forecasted to be, zero degrees celsius or below over seven consecutive days.

You’ll get £25 for each seven day period of very cold weather from 1 November 2020 to 31 March 2021.

You’re entitled to a Cold Weather Payment discount if you get one or more of the following:

• Pension Credit
• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Universal Credit
• Support for Mortgage Interest.

Find out more about the Cold Weather Payment and use the postcode search to check if the payment is due in your area.

Winter fuel payment

You could get between £100 and £300, automatically, to help pay your heating bills if you:

• were born on or before 5 November 1954, and
• have lived in the UK for at least one day during the week of 21 to 27 September 2020

If you’re eligible, most payments are made between November and December and you should get your money by 13 January 2021.

If you don’t get your payment automatically, the deadline for claiming payments for winter 2020/21 is 31 March 2021.

Read more about the winter fuel payment and how to make a claim if you need to.