Energy support scheme: New vouchers issued after technical issue

The new vouchers will start arriving on doormats from Saturday 21 January

The Post Office has said 6,000 new energy support vouchers have been sent to Power NI customers impacted by a technical issue.

On Tuesday, it emerged that 150 Airtricity Energy customers had also been affected. However, this has been clarified to be 119.

The vouchers in question, dated 17 January, were said to be invalid.

The new vouchers will start arriving on doormats from Saturday 21 January.

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

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

• Your £600 energy payment scheme questions answered

• First households receive £600 energy voucher

• What help for rising bills is available in NI?

A Post Office spokesperson said: "The technical glitch has been resolved swiftly and customers affected will start to receive their new vouchers this weekend."

"We understand how urgently this support is needed and want to apologise once again to anyone who could not redeem their original voucher. We ask for customers to be vigilant and look out for their new vouchers so they can redeem them."

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

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

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

Households that pay their electricity bills by direct debit will see the £600 payment paid directly into their bank accounts.

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.

Vouchers and payments started to arrive this week.

The rollout will be staggered over the next four weeks - it is estimated that it will be completed by the end of February.