Millions of households have until end of weekend to check for £150 energy bill discount

Millions of households have until end of weekend to check for £150 energy bill discount Energy suppliers will use customer records to apply the discount, which is normally issued between late October and March Millions of households have until the end of this weekend to check their entitlement for £150 off energy bills this winter. The Warm Home Discount is a discount that is applied directly to your energy account. It is applied to your electricity bill, but you can normally ask for the discount to go toward your gas bill instead. In order to be eligible, someone in your household needs to be claiming means-tested benefits. But in order to get the help automatically, that person must be named on your energy bill by August 23. This is because energy suppliers will use customer records to apply the discount, which is normally issued between late October and March. Around six million households will get the rebate this winter. If you live in England and Wales, you must be claiming one of the following benefits to get the Warm Home Discount automatically: - Universal Credit - Housing Benefit - income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) - Pension Credit In Scotland, you must be claiming: - Pension Credit - Extra amount of Universal Credit because you or your child has a disability or health condition - Disability premium or a pensioner premium of income-related Employment Support Allowance - Disability premium or a pensioner premium and have a Support for Mortgage Interest loan You will also get the discount automatically if you or your partner has responsibility for a child under five who normally lives with you and you: - Are unemployed and get Universal Credit - Get Income-related Employment Support Allowance - Have a Support for Mortgage Interest loan If you do not get the discount automatically, you will need to apply directly to your energy supplier. It comes as energy bills are forecast to rise again this winter. The Ofgem price cap is predicted to go up by another 4% this October, following a 13% increase in July. The price cap reflects what the average household can expect to pay for energy a year. Ofgem says households are using less energy to save money, so had updated how it calculates the price cap. Under its previous methodology, the current price cap is set at £1,862 a year and Cornwall Insight predicts this could rise to £1,941 in October. But based on its new lower estimates, the current price cap is £1,663 a year and analysts say it could increase to £1,729 in October. Ofgem will announce its October to December price cap on August 26. Experts at comparison site Uswitch.com say households who are on the price cap can save money by switching to a fixed energy deal now.