Households in Northern Ireland will receive their delayed £600 (€690) energy support payment from January, the United Kingdom government has announced.
Homeowners in Britain have been receiving payments to help with the cost of energy in instalments since October, but differences in the energy market in Northern Ireland and the absence of an Executive led to months of uncertainty over when and how those in the North would receive their support.
The UK government said on Monday it would pay the money via Northern Ireland’s electricity companies.
Direct debit customers will receive a credit of £600 directly into their bank account, while other customers will be sent a voucher to redeem. Full details as to how they will work and the necessary ID will be set out shortly, the British government said.
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Home heating oil
The single, one-off payment for households in the North will combine £400 from the UK government’s Energy Bills Support Scheme NI as well as an additional £200 Alternative Fuel Payment scheme.
This extra sum is being given in recognition of Northern Ireland’s dependence on home heating oil but will be paid to every household regardless of which fuel source they use.
Britain’s energy secretary Grant Shapps said the announcement meant “Northern Ireland energy users will be the first in the UK to receive the complete payment package”.
Northern Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said he was “acutely aware of the uncertainty and frustration that people across Northern Ireland have felt about their energy bill support” and this meant “families can start the new year knowing that they will receive the full support from January”.
He said he was “grateful that officials and ministers and energy suppliers have found a solution” to the delivery of the payment, “especially given the complexity of NI’s energy market” but said he “would have liked to have seen Northern Ireland political parties deliver this, as part of a restored Executive”.
The North has been without a functioning Executive or Assembly since the elections in May when the DUP refused to re-enter the powersharing institutions as part of their protest against the Northern Ireland protocol.
The former minister for the economy, the DUP’s Gordon Lyons, rejected the suggestion this had any part in delaying the payment, telling the BBC it was a “UK-wide scheme for every household in Northern Ireland, it’s not devolved in Scotland or Wales … this is a scheme that could and should have been rolled out across the United Kingdom. The [Northern Ireland] department for the economy didn’t have the levers, the capacity or the expertise to deliver such a scheme.”
Local politicians
However, Sinn Féin’s economy spokeswoman Caoimhe Archibald MLA said “it shouldn’t have taken this long to confirm when people would get help that they are entitled to because it was held up by the DUP’s boycott of the Executive and Tory government delays”.
There was a cautious welcome to the announcement in Northern Ireland on Monday, with local politicians raising concerns about timescale and how the money will be paid to those who do not pay by direct debit.
Ms Archibald said confirmation of the payment would be “a relief to people who are struggling with their bills” but called for “immediate clarity” on how vouchers for pay-as-you-go customers will be rolled out.
“It would be a perverse outcome if we ended up in a situation where are those who are most in need are effectively at the back of the queue in terms of receiving their assistance,” Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry told the BBC.
“This may well be good news for a lot of people today but it’s going to create and reinforce the worry for many more,” he said.
Additional reporting — PA.
