Energy support scheme: More than 6,000 vouchers 'not valid'

The Post Office says it hopes to have the situation resolved as quickly as possible for people

The Post Office has said 6,000 energy support vouchers dated 17 January and sent to Power NI customers are not valid due to a technical issue.

It says a further 150 energy support vouchers dated 17 January and sent to Airtricity Energy customers are also not valid for the same reason.

"The issue was highlighted and following an investigation, new vouchers will be re-sent," it said.

The £600 payments are intended to help with energy bills.

However, people can use the cash payment as they see fit.

"We understand how important this support is for people and want to apologise to anyone who could not redeem their voucher," the Post Office said.

The payment is being delivered by the UK government in the absence of Stormont.

About 500,000 households in Northern Ireland - those who pay quarterly for their energy or use pre-payment meters - are eligible for the voucher.

The vouchers started to arrive this week.

Households that pay their electricity bills by direct debit will see the £600 payment paid directly into their bank accounts and can expect to start receiving payments from next week.

The payment is made up of a £400 support payment announced last May, and an additional £200 because of the high proportion of homes here using heating oil.

The rollout will be staggered over the next four weeks and is estimated to be completed by the end of February.

• Your £600 energy payment scheme questions answered

• First households receive £600 energy voucher

• Cost of living: What help is available in Northern Ireland?

SDLP assembly member Sinead McLaughlin said a number of her constituents in Londonderry were experiencing issues redeeming their payments.

The rollout will be staggered over the next four weeks and is estimated to be completed by the end of February

"After learning of these problems from a number of constituents today, I contacted Power NI on their behalf," Ms McLaughlin said.

She said that they confirmed that there is a "technical issue with the company's systems linking up with the Post Office".

"They reassured me that a team are currently working on rectifying the issues and hope to have the situation resolved as quickly as possible," she added.

'Working to resolve the situation'

A Post Office spokesperson said: "We are aware of an issue with a small number of energy vouchers that have arrived with customers.

"We understand just how important this energy voucher support is for people and are urgently working to resolve the situation.

"We will issue an update as soon as we can."

How many vouchers have been issued so far?

BBC News NI has asked all five electricity suppliers how many vouchers and direct debit payments had been made so far.

Power NI said 172,000 customers had received their £600 payments so far.

Electric Ireland didn't give any numbers but said: "We are happy with the progress to date in getting vouchers issued and this is going to plan."

Budget Energy has said that it has issued just over 40,000 vouchers so far, and approximately 14,500 have been cashed to date.

They said the remainder are due to go out over the next three weeks.

Click Energy told BBC News NI that approximately a third of all vouchers had already been issued by the Post Office.

They said that of the issued vouchers, approximately a third had been redeemed and delivery of the rest of the vouchers by 28 February remained on track.

SSE Airtricity says about 15,000 customers have been issued vouchers through the Post Office.

The remaining vouchers will be issued to customers over the coming weeks as the Post Office continues to work through them on a phased basis.

What do I need to bring?

That depends on how you want to receive the payment and what sort of customer you are:

You will need:

• The voucher letter

• Proof of address e.g. utility bill, bank statement, government letter

• Photographic ID if you want to receive it as cash e.g. passport, driving licence

• Your bank card if you want to pay the funds straight into your bank account

• Your top up card or app if you are a keypad customer

If you are reading this page on the BBC News app, you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question on this topic.