Energy payments: North-west fuel poverty fund delayed again

The council set aside £258,000 for the Discretionary Emergency Fuel Support Programme

A Derry City and Strabane District Council hardship fund to help people struggling to pay their home heating bills is now facing further delays.

The scheme, which will see a one-off payment of £100 paid directly to an eligible person's provider, was first announced back in September.

The initial timeline given for delivery of the fund was the end of October.

Applications for council's emergency fuel support scheme were set to open on 17 October but this did not happen.

Previously, Derry City and Strabane District Council said the reason for a "short delay" in introducing the scheme in the north west was due to "the unsuccessful appointment of a fuel payment partner".

On Tuesday, the council confirmed to BBC Radio Foyle that it has still to appoint a fuel payment partner for the scheme and is hoping to finalise this "in the coming weeks".

In a statement, the council said that it will give a further update "once that process is completed".

The council set aside £258,000 to administer what is known as the Discretionary Emergency Fuel Support Programme for people needing emergency fuel support in the council district.

In order to be eligible for the fund, households must fulfil one of the following eligibility criteria:

• The households must earn a total income of under £40,000

• A member of the household is entitled to free school meals

• The household is in debt with an energy provider

• There is a "vulnerable person" in the household

• A member of the household has recently been become unemployed

• A member of the household is on a zero-hour contract

The scheme, designed for emergency situations when a householder is unable to pay fuel bills or buy a top-up, is set to operate on a referral system.

The referrals can be made by any local support organisation, a local school, church or charity.

Individuals can also make a self-referral and these application forms will be available on the council website when the scheme goes live.

A household can only receive one payment through the fund.

The UK Government has scrapped the amount gas and electricity suppliers can charge customers per unit in Northern Ireland

Meanwhile, a proposal for a similar scheme was approved by Belfast City Council on Tuesday.

Separately, energy companies in Northern Ireland are reducing their prices for households on Tuesday as a consequence of the Energy Price Guarantee.

The UK government scheme will cap the price for a unit of gas and electricity from October 2022 to April 2023.

The support will reduce bills by up to 19.9p per kilowatt hour (kWh) for electricity and 4.8p/kWh for gas.

The government previously said homes using a typical amount of gas and electricity would pay £2,500 annually.

The cap was first announced in September by the then-Prime Minister Liz Truss, who initially said the scheme would last for two years.