It was announced on Thursday that every household in Northern Ireland will receive a £400 electricity payment.
This will be a "one-off payment" made in November, Minister for the Economy Gordon Lyons has said.
Customers do not need to take any action to receive this support.
Read more: Consumer Council advice as energy bills to increase in NI this week
For pay as you go customers:
- Top up £5 and you will receive £170.
- Top up £5 and you will receive £170.
- Top up £5 and you will receive £60.
For those with accounts, £400 will be credited into the account holder's account.
For customers in Northern Ireland, both the Energy Price Guarantee and Energy Bills Support Scheme will work very similarly to those in Great Britain.
Householders will receive an equivalent level of support. Here are full details from Gov.uk.
Energy Price Guarantee for NI homes
The scheme will still work through your electricity and gas bills. There is no need to take any action, and the scheme will provide households in Northern Ireland with equivalent financial support with their electricity and gas bills as for those in Great Britain.
Your energy supplier will reduce your bills by a unit price reduction of up to 17p/kWh for electricity and 4.2p/kWh for gas, and you don’t need to take any action to receive this support. This will take effect from November. Gov.uk say they'll ensure you receive support so you will see the same benefit overall as those households in Great Britain, backdating support for October bills through bills from November.
For pre-payment meter customers in Northern Ireland, the Energy Price Guarantee will be applied to the rate you pay for each unit of energy at the same rate as for all other customers (17p/kWh for electricity and 4.2p/kWh for gas), so the money you put on the meter will last longer than would otherwise have been the case this winter.
The Energy Price Guarantee limits the amount you can be charged per unit of gas or electricity, so your exact bill amount will continue to be influenced by how much energy you use.
Energy Support Scheme
Households in Northern Ireland will receive the £400 discount on bills through the Northern Ireland Energy Bills Support Scheme. Customers do not need to take any action to receive support. More information will be published soon.
Customers using oil
Customers in NI who are not able to benefit from the Energy Price Guarantee, such as those using heating oil, will receive an additional payment of £100 to compensate for price increases in those alternative fuels. This is intended to guarantee you will receive support equivalent to those on both the electricity and gas grid for the total cost of your energy. More details on this will be set out soon.
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