About 152,050 homes in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole are in council tax bands A to D, which get the £100 Household Energy Payment from January 2027.
Four in five homes in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole are in line for a £100 payment towards energy bills from January. The Chancellor announced the Household Energy Payment in Wednesday’s Budget.
It goes to every household in England in council tax bands A to D. Local councils will pay it out, so in this area it will come through BCP Council.
How many homes it covers here
The Valuation Office Agency’s count of properties by band shows 190,550 homes on BCP’s council tax list at 31 March 2026. 152,050 of them, or 79.8%, are in bands A to D. That is close to the England figure of 80.8%.
| Band | Homes | Gets £100? |
|---|---|---|
| A | 26,840 | Yes |
| B | 34,640 | Yes |
| C | 54,460 | Yes |
| D | 36,110 | Yes |
| E | 21,880 | No |
| F | 9,470 | No |
| G | 5,840 | No |
| H | 1,320 | No |
| All bands | 190,550 |
The count is of properties, not households. Some will be empty or exempt, and the government has not yet published who counts as eligible. The real number of payments here will be somewhat lower than 152,050.
Band C is the biggest single band locally, with 54,460 homes. In Bournemouth itself, a Band A home pays £1,619.64 in council tax this year and a Band D home £2,429.46, according to our council tax bands page.
What the Budget says
The Budget document sets out the scheme:
- £100 per household in bands A to D in England
- paid from January 2027
- delivered “through the council tax system” by local authorities
- worth £2.6 billion in total, reaching up to 20 million households
- plus £100 million for councils to give extra help to households “acutely impacted by rising energy bills”
The same document describes the money both as a payment “directly into bank accounts” and as a “£100 council tax rebate”. BCP Council has not yet said which it will be here.
The Budget also extends the cut in VAT on household electricity to July 2027. The Treasury expects that to take around £50 off the annual Ofgem price cap in April 2027.
What it means for you
- Check your band. It is printed on your council tax bill, or you can look it up on the government’s council tax band checker.
- No application has been announced. The Budget says the money will be “directly provided” through the council tax system. The full rules are still to come.
- Be wary of anyone asking you to claim it. Treat any text or call asking for bank details to “release” the payment with suspicion, and wait for BCP Council’s own announcement.
- Struggling now? The £100 million pot is for councils to target the hardest hit. BCP has not yet said how it will use its share.
We will update this page when BCP Council sets out how and when it will pay.
Sources
- Budget 2026, HM Treasury, 28 October 2026, for the Household Energy Payment, the £100 million local fund and the electricity VAT extension.
- Council Tax: stock of properties, 2026, Valuation Office Agency, table CTSOP1.1, for the number of homes in each band in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and in England at 31 March 2026.
- Bournemouth council tax bands 2026/27, our page built from BCP Council’s bands and charges, for the Band A and Band D bills.
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