Citizens Advice responds to the expansion of the Warm Home Discount

Responding to the announcement of the expansion of the Warm Home Discount, Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive at Citizens Advice, said: 

“The expansion of the Warm Home Discount is good news for struggling households who haven't been eligible previously. But the £150 amount has not kept pace with rising bills and will struggle to touch the sides for families paying off a mountain of debt on top of soaring monthly costs.

“Bills are 52% higher than before the energy crisis, prices continue to be volatile, and one in ten households are in energy debt - with the amount owed growing each day. 

“We need the government to look into longer term solutions that provide more help to those who need it most, such as families with children and disabled people. There also needs to be more certainty about the support on offer to people in debt, including urgent progress from Ofgem on the debt relief scheme.”

 -ends-

Additional information

Citizens Advice research from February 2025 shows:

  • 6.7 million people in Great Britain are living in a household in debt to their energy supplier.

  • Nearly two thirds (64%) in energy debt say they’ve had to ration energy in the last year, including switching off or turning down heating or water as a result of their debt. That’s equal to 4.45 million people.

  • Three in ten (30%) households said they find it difficult to afford their energy bills, equal to over 8.3 million households or nearly 20 million people. 

We give people the knowledge and confidence they need to find their way forward - whoever they are, and whatever their problem.

Notes to editors:

  1. Citizens Advice’s report, Frozen in Place: Why the Government needs to move quicker to address energy affordability is available online. It is based on research from the charity, with polling carried out by Yonder Data Solutions. 

  2. Survey data is based on an online representative poll of 2014 GB adults conducted by Yonder Data Solutions for Citizens Advice. Fieldwork conducted between 26th January and 13th February. Scaling up is based on the most recent estimate of GB households of approximately 28 million, and an average household size of 2.36 people. In addition to the nationally representative sample, Yonder also provided boosted numbers for Scotland and Wales, and boosts for low-income households, households with children, and pensioners.

  3. Citizens Advice is made up of the national charity Citizens Advice; the network of independent local Citizens Advice charities across England and Wales; the Citizens Advice consumer service; and the Witness Service.

  4. Our network of charities offers impartial advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free. 

  5. Citizens Advice helped 2.68 million people face to face, over the phone, by email and webchat in 2023-24. And we had 51.7 million visits to our website. For full service statistics see our monthly publication Advice trends.

  6. Citizens Advice service staff are supported by more than 19,000 trained volunteers, working at over 1,900 service outlets across England and Wales.

  7. Citizens Advice is the statutory consumer advocate for energy and postal markets. We provide supplier performance information to consumers and policy analysis to decision makers. 

  8. You can get consumer advice from the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133 or 0808 223 1144 for Welsh language speakers.