State pensioners handed £150 on British Gas, EOn, EDF and OVO energy accounts

State pensioners have been handed a £150 payout despite losing out on up to £600 for the Winter Fuel Allowance.

Customers of state pension age who are with various energy suppliers including British Gas, E.On, EDF, Ovo or Octopus Energy could be eligible for a £150 payment this winter, entirely separate to the Winter Fuel Payment.

Although the Winter Fuel Allowance, which hands between £300 and £600 to every state pensioner automatically to help with fuel bills, has now been cut back with much stricter eligibility criteria, there is another little known £150 payment that is still available.

Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the Winter Fuel Allowance will no longer be given to every state pensioner by default, and it would instead only be available to those who claim Pension Credit, Attendance Allowance, Universal Credit or one of a few other qualifying benefits, in a bid to slash nearly £2bn from the welfare state bill.

But the Warm Homes Discount is still available this winter and it will launch for 2024 in October.

The scheme pays out cash to state pensioners on low incomes and is designed to cover the costs of heating during colder winter months.

Households in England or Wales will automatically get the cash and don’t need to apply. The money will show up on your British Gas, OVO, EDF, E.On or Octopus Energy bill as a credit of £150 at some point before October 2024 and March 2025.

You need to be claiming a means-tested benefit successfully during the qualifying week in August in order to be eligible.

Eligible benefits include Income Support, Housing Benefit, Universal Credit, Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credits or Income based Jobseekers Allowance and Income Related employment and support allowance.