£600 energy voucher: Post Office says more than half redeemed

More than half of Northern Ireland's £600 energy voucher letters have now been redeemed, the Post Office has said.

Up to 500,000 eligible households are set to receive vouchers which can only be cashed in at post office branches.

More than 250,000 have been redeemed since the roll out began just over two weeks ago.

The £600 energy vouchers are to help homes across Northern Ireland struggling with the cost-of-living.

An initial £400 support was announced last May, and then a further £200 was added because of the high proportion of homes in Northern Ireland that use home heating oil.

The vouchers are being posted out in tranches, which started mid-January and will run until the end of February.

'On track'

External Affairs Manager at the Post Office, Mark Gibson, said the rollout is on track.

He added: "That plan is based around managing cash flows within branches and managing queues etc, so we want to keep to that plan as it was quite diligently thought through.

"We aren't sitting on any vouchers, we dispatch vouchers to that plan so we do expect to fully meet that end of February deadline," he added.

BBC News NI contacted the five electricity suppliers in Northern Ireland asking how many vouchers have been issued so far:

• Northern Ireland's largest electricity supplier, Power NI, said more than 412,000 customers had received their voucher either by direct debit or in the post

• SSE Airtricity said the majority of customers' vouchers had been sent with the remainder to be delivered by the end of February

• Budget Energy said more than 73,000 vouchers had been issued, accounting for the majority of their customers, with 57,000 of these being cashed out

• Click Energy said all their vouchers had been issued and all debit customers had received the £600 payment

• Electric Ireland said it is "happy with the progress to date" in getting the support payments to customers

Once a voucher had been received, customers have until the end of March to redeem it.

• Post offices receiving first £600 energy vouchers

• Your £600 energy payment scheme questions answered

• What help for rising bills is available in NI?

Those who pay their electricity bill by monthly direct debit won't receive a letter. Instead the £600 will automatically be paid in to their bank accounts.

In order to redeem a voucher at a post office, customers must bring the letter and proof of address, as well as photo ID if you want to cash the voucher. A bank card must be presented if the money is being lodged into a bank account.

Keypad customers must also bring their top up card or proof of their app.