£150 Energy Bills Rebate

Scheme closed 30th September 2022

Occupied households in Bands A – D (or band E if customer has a disabled band reduction) in England will have benefited from this rebate. The rebate was not paid for second homes, empty properties, houses in multiple occupation, landlords and corporate bodies. Customers in bands A to D (or Band E with a disabled band reduction) on 1 April 2022.

The delivery of this scheme was an issue many local authorities were facing. Following receipt of the Government guidance on how to administer the complex and large-scale task of issuing the rebate our team were working hard behind the scenes undertaking the necessary testing of new software.As required by the Government all payments under this scheme needed to have been processed by 30th September 2022.We are pleased to confirm that the Council met all Government deadlines when administering this scheme. Our team are pleased to confirm they processed Energy Rebates to 39,385 households worth £5,907,750.00 of relief.

Households across West Lancashire Borough Council have received the Energy Rebate payments to help with rising energy costs in the form of Bacs payments.
The application process for the mandatory element of this scheme (properties in band A-D) closed on 26th August 2022. Therefore, if an application was not received or if we were unable to make the payment to the bank account as this failed the validation checks we were required to complete by the 26th August 2022, the £150 payment was credited to the council tax account.

We also reviewed accounts which became liable for Council Tax on or before 1st April 2022, that were not previously included in the letter invite campaign. This may have been due to an amendment being made on the account following the campaign letters being issued.

This exercise was undertaken to ensure all eligible customers had been identified and payment was credited to the council tax account on 29th September 2022

Energy Rebate Discretionary funding - Scheme closed 30th November 2022

The government also provided funding to Councils to operate a discretionary fund, to support those households in need and those who are not eligible for the Energy rebate.

West Lancashire Borough Council adopted a new Local Discretionary Council Tax Energy Rebate Scheme, to help support households with rising energy costs. 

The Council decided that payments under their discretionary scheme were made providing the household has their sole or main residence in a property and as at 1st April 2022 the following conditions were met;

  • A single one-off payment of £150 will be awarded to any household who resides in a property with a Council Tax band E to H and is in receipt of Council Tax Support
  • A single top-up payment of £25 will be awarded to any household who resides in a dwelling with a Council Tax band A – D (including properties that have been granted a disabled reduction to Band D) and in receipt of Council Tax Support. It should be noted that this will be in addition to the mandatory £150 Council Tax Rebate scheme payment

In addition to the above, on 25th November 2022 the categories were extended whereby a single one-off payment of £135 was credited to the Council Tax accounts of eligible households currently in Council Tax Bands E – H providing the household has their sole or main residence in a property and as at 1st April 2022, who are not in receipt of Council Tax Support but are in receipt of one of the following:

  • Council Tax Exemption Class U (Occupied by a person or persons who are Severely Mentally Impaired)
  • Council Tax Exemption Class W (Occupied Annexe)
  • Council Tax disregard discount because a resident is a Carer or Severely Mentally Impaired
  • Properties currently in Council Tax Bands F to H that qualify for the disabled reduction (Band E with a disabled reduction would have been awarded under the core scheme)


I fall into one of the above categories, how do I apply for the discretionary funding?

We identified those customers that are eligible for the discretionary scheme and letters were issued to these customers on 25th August 2022 and 28th November 2022.