The government has widened the pool of energy suppliers obliged to offer Warm Home Discounts to vulnerable customers.
Energy and clean growth minister Claire Perry announced today that from 2020/21 all suppliers with more than 150,000 customers will be obliged to offer the £140 discount on electricity bills. Currently the threshold is set at 250,000 customers.
And the threshold will be reviewed after 2021 to examine whether it should be scrapped entirely so that all suppliers are competing on a level playing field.
The lowering of the threshold will be phased in so that it will apply to companies with 200,000 customer accounts in 2019/20 before falling to 150,000 in 2020/21.
The phased reduction is designed to give smaller suppliers time to adjust.
The government claims that today’s move will benefit an additional 20,000 pensioners in 2019/20, followed by a further 10,000 in 2020/21.
By the time the 150,000 threshold has been phased in, the government estimates that that 97% of the consumer energy market will be covered by the discount.
Perry said: “Tackling fuel poverty is a key priority for this government. Everyone who is automatically eligible for the £140 discount on their energy bills each winter should be able to get it.
“It shouldn’t be dependent on which energy supplier they are with, so we want to change that.”
The government said that it also plans to consult further on using better data matching to automatically identify all eligible low-income households that should get the discount rather than having to apply to their suppliers to get it.
A total of 16 companies currently participate in the WHD, including council-owned Bristol Energy, which is doing so on a voluntary basis although it has fewer than 250,000 customers.
Responding, a spokesman for Energy UK said it welcomed clarity from the Government on the future of WHD and that customers will continue to benefit from the scheme in future.
“The Government must ensure programmes, like Warm Home Discount, are better targeted and support those that are genuinely in need – the fuel poor.
“Energy efficiency must also be a national priority as improving the energy efficiency of Britain’s houses will be the only way to address fuel poverty in the long term.”