An energy supplier has pledged to double the Warm Home Discount payments this year, meaning eligible families will get £300 instead of the standard £150.
Shell Energy reckons it will make the extra payment to around 150,000 of its customers who get the Government's Warm Home payment this winter. The payment is part of £50 million support package from Shell which has just been announced and is to help its customers facing financial hardship.
The Warm Home Discount was introduced by the Government in April 2011 to help eligible families on low incomes or pensions with their energy bills during the winter. Although it's administered by the Government and Ofgem, it's paid for by energy suppliers, usually either as credit to customers' accounts, or for pay as you go customers, a voucher to top up their meter.
Read more: Changes to Warm Homes grant mean some miss out this year - list in full of who is eligible
The grant has been shaken up this year, with almost 300,000 disability benefit claimants no longer able to get the rebate automatically, which has meant this year's scheme has been delayed due to administration changes, so payments won't begin until November instead of the usual October.
The Government says the change will mean an extra 750,000 struggling households will receive the Warm Homes Discount Scheme payment, which has been increased by £10 to £150 for winter 2022/3. But people with disabilities who only claim personal independence payments, attendance allowance or disability living allowance, which are not means-tested, will no longer get the warm home discount automatically - affecting 290,000 existing claimants.
If you're eligible to get the main payment, in addition to the £150, you'll get the extra £150 from Shell Energy if you joined it the supplier on or before 21 August 2022. Shell has said that the £150 boost will come as a separate payment into your energy account that will be paid in "around the same time" as the main discount.
However, If you joined Shell on or after 22 August 2022, your previous supplier will be responsible for your Warm Home Discount and you won't get the top-up from Shell.
The package also includes doubling the size of its hardship fund from £10 million to £20 million through to the end of 2024, and the energy company has asked customers worried about their energy bills or making payments should get in touch to see if the supplier can help. You can reach it online via its website or by calling 0330 094 5800.
Shell Energy supplies around one million customers across Britain. It took on the customers of several smaller suppliers - including Goto Energy, Green, Pure Planet and Usio Energy - when they stopped trading last year as the energy crisis started to bite.
First Utility, one of the more prominent challenger energy brands, was acquired by Shell and renamed Shell Energy in 2019. It is now the UK's seventh largest energy supplier.
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