Energy payment: £600 to be delivered from January
- Published
Households in Northern Ireland will receive a single payment of £600 starting in January to help with their energy bills.
The UK government confirmed electricity firms will be funded for the payments, with direct debit customers receiving the money into their bank accounts.
Other customers will be sent a voucher to redeem the payment.
The money is intended to help with energy bills but people can use the cash payment as they see fit.
The payment is being delivered by the UK government in the absence of Stormont.
Vouchers will be sent to those who pay quarterly or who use a prepayment meter - thought to be around 500,000 households in Northern Ireland.
These vouchers can be redeemed for cash or paid into a bank account.
It is likely the vouchers will be posted rather than emailed.
A legal qualifying date for the scheme will be set in January, meaning whichever supplier a customer is with on this date will be responsible for delivering the money.
As it is a universal scheme people who pay a bill at a second home, such as a holiday home, will be paid twice.
'Complexity'
The money combines two payments.
A £400 payment was initially promised by the UK government for all households to help them to deal with rising prices for gas and electricity.
A further £200 payment was announced in November because of the proportion of homes in Northern Ireland that use home heating oil.
People in Great Britain began receiving the £400 in October, but there had a lot of uncertainty about when and how the energy support payments would be delivered in Northern Ireland.
The UK government said this announcement now means people in Northern Ireland would receive the full £600 before households in Great Britain.
Northern Ireland differs from the rest of the UK because it has its own energy market with its own rules and regulation.
Northern Ireland Secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, said he was grateful ministers and energy suppliers found a solution to "the complexity of NI's energy market".
"Although I would have liked to have seen Northern Ireland parties deliver this, as part of a restored executive," he added.
Retail NI welcomed the announcement but said they were seeking further clarification on how those consumers with top-up electricity and gas cards will receive their payment.
"This clarity is just not important for those customers, but also for many of our members who process these top-up card payments in their shops," Retail NI's Glyn Roberts said.
"We need detailed guidance given to retailers on the next steps"
Price cap
Last month, energy companies in Northern Ireland reduced energy prices for customers as a consequence of the Energy Price Guarantee.
The UK government scheme caps the price for a unit of gas and electricity until April 2023.
Householders still pay for all the gas and electricity they use but the guarantee limits the price that suppliers can charge for each unit of energy.
The UK government previously said homes using a typical amount of gas an electricity would pay £2,500 per year.
The range of measures have been introduced to help deal with the cost-of-living crisis.
Energy costs have soared because the conflict in Ukraine has reduced supplies of Russian gas.
Prices also rose because demand for energy rocketed after Covid restrictions ended.
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