Several elderly and vulnerable people in rural Fermanagh are still to receive their £600 energy payments due to problems with local addresses.
Those who pay quarterly or use pre-payment meters were to receive vouchers to redeem their £600 payment at Post Offices by 28 February.
A new address system was introduced ten years ago in the Fermanagh area after an unofficial system of addresses using townlands was phased out by the local council.
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However, many rural homes have yet to have their addresses updated since that change, leaving letters from electricity providers to ‘the occupier’ unable to reach those in the area.
Community Advice Fermanagh say they have been ‘inundated’ with calls from those in border areas within the BT92 postcode who have yet to receive their payments.
The local citizens’ advice group has been attempting to contact energy providers in NI on behalf of those affected for the last week.
A new online portal to help those without a direct relationship with their electricity provider access the payments has not been of use to those in the area.
"It is a unique situation brought on by the fact that there are some homes in Fermanagh who still have their Townland registered as their address with their energy supplier,” Samantha Gallagher from Community Advice Fermanagh says.
“In recent years, all homes in Northern Ireland who formally had townland only addresses, were all given a house number and road name, however, some homes within the BT92 Area have not had their addresses updated correctly with their energy suppliers."
Erne West SDLP councillor Adam Gannon has described it as a ‘unique Fermanagh problem’ and called on electricity providers to provide a solution to the issue.
“It’s a big issue impacting rural areas such as my own DEA of Erne West, where they may be older residents who may not have updated their address with their electricity provider,” Cllr Gannon said.
“It’s now only becoming an issue because these letters can’t be delivered as they are addressed to the occupier.
“Many of these are elderly people and some of whom are among the most vulnerable in the community and most in need of the financial assistance provided by this.
“The electric companies seem to be totally unaware of the problem as it’s a unique Fermanagh problem.
“If anyone has been affected by this I’d encourage them to get in touch with myself or Community Advice Fermanagh.
“I hope that the electric companies are willing to listen to these concerns and reissue these vouchers or find a solution.”
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Energy providers in the area say they were aware of the issue and are working to find a solution.
A spokesperson for Power NI said: “We have been made aware of the issue and we understand that these customers' voucher letters are being returned to the Post Office as returned mail.
“We are currently working with the Post Office to resolve this and these voucher letters will be reposted with a covering letter and envelope addressed to the person named on the eligible electricity account.
“The voucher itself will still be in the name of 'The Occupier' as per the UK Government's scheme guidance. The Post Office hopes to have Power NI voucher letters for impacted customers reissued within the next couple of weeks.”
A spokesperson for Electric Ireland said: “Electric Ireland is aware of a small number of cases where customers have experienced issues with voucher delivery. Where these individual issues arise, we are working with the relevant parties to resolve them.”
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