NI households to receive energy payment from January

Households in Northern Ireland will receive a single payment of £600 starting in January to help with their energy bills.

The UK government confirmed electricity firms will be funded for the payments, with direct debit customers receiving the money into their bank accounts.

Other customers will be sent a voucher to redeem the payment with further details still to be issued.

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

Vouchers will be sent to those who pay quarterly or who use a prepayment meter - thought to be around 500,000 households in Northern Ireland.

These vouchers can be redeemed for cash or paid into a bank account.

It is likely the vouchers will be posted rather than emailed.

A legal qualifying date for the scheme will be set in January, meaning whichever supplier a customer is with on this date will be responsible for delivering the money.

As it is a universal scheme people who have a second home, such as a holiday home, will be paid twice.

The money combines two payments.

A £400 payment was initially promised by the UK government for all households to help them to deal with rising prices for gas and electricity.

A further £200 payment was announced in November because of the proportion of homes in Northern Ireland that use home heating oil.

People in Great Britain began receiving the £400 in October, but there had a lot of uncertainty about when and how the energy support payments would be delivered in Northern Ireland.

The UK government said this announcement now means people in Northern Ireland would receive the full £600 before households in Great Britain.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said he was grateful ministers and energy suppliers found a solution to "the complexity of NI's energy market".

"Although I would have liked to have seen Northern Ireland parties deliver this, as part of a restored executive," he added.