Electricity customers will get a £12 rebate off their next energy bill as a result of Government moves to lower the cost to consumers of green levies.

The Government announced a number of measures last year to reduce the impact of social and environmental programmes on energy bills. It says overall these will cut household energy bills by £50/year on average (see the Government shakes up energy bills – what does it mean for you? MSE News story).

One of these measures is to give electricity customers a £24 rebate, split into two £12 payments, over the next two years. If you pay by direct debit or on receipt of an electricity bill, you'll see a £12 credit automatically applied to the next bill you receive from this week onwards (join our free Cheap Energy Club to see if you can get a better deal).

If you pay for electricity via a pre-payment meter, look out for a letter from your supplier between now and November.

This letter will either include a £12 voucher – likely with a barcode – that you'll need to redeem for electricity credit when you next top up, or instructions to take your pre-payment key to a pre-payment vending site to collect your £12.

Every household that pays for electricity bills directly to their supplier should receive this rebate. If you don't get the £12 by the end of November, get in touch with your electricity supplier. The Government has set an absolute deadline of 28 February 2015 for suppliers to pay the rebate.

The other £12 rebate will be paid to electricity users in autumn 2015.