Householders to get second £12 electricity rebate – but some still need to claim theirs

UPDATE (25 January 2016): The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has told MoneySavingExpert that over a million prepay users haven’t yet claimed their £12 credit. You only have until 28 February to do so.

Electricity customers received a £12 rebate off their energy bills this winter as a result of government moves to lower the cost of green levies for households. Prepay customers need to actively redeem this credit – but over a million of them have not yet done so, with the deadline just weeks away.

The Government announced a number of measures in 2013 to reduce the impact of social and environmental programmes on energy bills, such as cutting the cost of free insulation measures.

It said these reductions would lower household energy bills by £50/year on average (see the Government shakes up energy bills MSE News story).

One of these measures was to give electricity customers a £24 rebate, split into two £12 payments. The first payment came last winter, with the second paid this winter.

How do I redeem it?

If you pay by direct debit or on receipt of an electricity bill, you should have seen a £12 credit automatically applied to your next bill (join our free Cheap Energy Club to see if you can get a better deal).

If you pay for electricity via a prepayment meter, you should have received a letter from your supplier in November. Most prepayment-meter customers will have received vouchers for £12 in these that need to be redeemed for electricity credit when topping up.

Prepay users can take these vouchers to a PayPoint where the £12 rebate will automatically be transferred to the meter's key.

But with the 28 February deadline for claiming just weeks away, the DECC has told us that 30% of the 4.5 million entitled to the credit have still not redeemed it.

Householders to get second £12 electricity rebate – but some still need to claim theirs

I don’t think I’ve received my letter

If you've a smart prepayment meter, which can be topped up remotely, it's likely your supplier will credit the meter automatically rather than sending a voucher – so check.

If you didn’t get the letter in November, or the £12 hasn’t appeared on your following bill, get in touch with your electricity supplier. This payment will be made from the electricity provider you had an account with on 11 October 2015.

For more information, see DECC’s website.