𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Energy affordability advocates have criticised Reform UK’s promise to slash a £15 payment to households struggling to pay energy bills. Ahead of this week’s party conference in Birmingham, party leaders have been outlining their potential policies if they were to take power at No. 10. Among them was Richard Tice’s pledges related to household energy bills.

The party’s Deputy Leader, Richard Tice, laid out the plans earlier this week, revealing that they include the abolishment of the Warm Homes Discount. The Warm Home Discount Scheme is a one-off £150 discount on electricity bills for those who are eligible. It is automatically given to those in England and Wales who get certain means-tested benefits, whose name (or their partner’s) is on the electricity bill as of August 23, 2026. Qualifying benefits include Universal Credit, Housing Benefit, income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), and Pension Credit.

Mr Tice set out the party’s intention to repeal a number of policies, which also included the Renewables Obligation, Feed-in Tariffs and Green Gas Levy.

The party’s plans also include removing the tax on gas generators from the UK Emissions Trading Scheme and the Carbon Price Support.

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition have criticised the pledges made by Mr Tice. “The plan being put forward will raise energy bills for the households who can least afford the rising cost of energy,” a spokesperson said. “Around six million low-income families would lose their winter energy bills support if the plans go ahead.

“The Warm Home Discount should be extended and enhanced, not abolished. It is one of the very few forms of help that reaches people automatically, and even at its current level, it falls short of what households in fuel poverty need.”

They added: “There is a serious debate to be had about which costs belong on energy bills and which belong in general taxation, and we have long called for more of the costs on energy bills to be taken on by the Exchequer and funded in a more progressive way. But the apparent slash-and-burn approach will not work.

“What would genuinely cut bills for good is breaking the link between electricity and gas prices, moving the country off the fossil fuel price rollercoaster, insulating the coldest and dampest homes and a permanent social tariff to protect the poorest households from the next price shock.”