These schemes augment the cost-of-living package of assistance the government has in place to help reduce energy bills for households across the United Kingdom. This includes the Energy Price Guarantee, which saves a typical household in Great Britain around £900 this winter and an equivalent level of support in Northern Ireland.
All households in Northern Ireland will receive a single, one-off £600 payment to help with their bills. Payments will start in January 2023. This will be made up of £400 of support under the government’s Energy Bills Support Scheme Northern Ireland (EBSS NI), and £200 of support under the Alternative Fuel Payment (AFP) scheme, which will go to all households in Northern Ireland irrespective of how they heat their home.
The UK government confirmed it will fund electricity companies for this payment to ensure they’re administered quickly and that suppliers should start to make payments to customers in January.
Administered by energy suppliers, customers who pay by direct debit will receive the £600 into their bank account directly. Other customers will be sent a voucher to redeem the £600 payment, with further details of how they will work and what ID will be required to be set out shortly.
As well as this support for homes across Northern Ireland, the government has also announced details for how people in England, Scotland and Wales without a direct relationship to a domestic energy supplier, including many care home residents and those living in park homes, will receive a £400 discount on their fuel bills through the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding (EBSS Alternative Funding).
The government is also providing a further £200 Alternative Fuel Payment (AFP) to help those households in Great Britain who use alternative fuels such as biomass or heating oil to meet energy costs this winter.
Most households eligible for the AFP support in Great Britain will receive payment automatically via their electricity supplier in February, with no need to take any action. Those households who will need to apply for the AFP, for example, because they do not have a relationship with an electricity supplier, will be able to do so in February, through the same GOV.UK portal as the one that will be used to apply for support under the EBSS Alternative Funding scheme.
Online applications will open in January for households in England, Scotland and Wales who are eligible for the £400 EBSS Alternative Funding to submit their details, alongside a helpline for those without online access. Payments to households that meet the eligibility criteria — including people who get their energy through a commercial contract or who are off-grid — will be made by local authorities in Great Britain. This is likely to include:
- Care home residents
- Residents of park homes
- Tenants in certain private and social rented homes
- Homes supplied via private wires
- Residents of caravans and houseboats on registered sites
- Farmers living in domestic farmhouses
- Off-grid households
Most households who don’t have a direct relationship with a domestic energy supplier have already been benefiting from subsidised energy bills through the government’s business support scheme, with the Energy Prices Act legislation passed earlier in the year to ensure those benefits are passed on to consumers who do not pay their energy bills directly.
To make the process as simple as possible for consumers, those who are eligible for the EBSS Alternative Funding will need to submit a short online form via the government’s GOV.UK pages, with the application portal due to open in January.
A dedicated customer helpline will be available to assist customers who do not have online access, with further details to be released next month. Customers who are eligible for support under the main Energy Bills Support Scheme are not eligible for EBSS Alternative Funding.
Once customers have applied to receive support and their applications have been processed and verified, eligible customers’ details will be shared with local authorities across England, Scotland and Wales, who will deliver the one-off, non-repayable support this winter.
Applicants will only be able to submit information through GOV.UK from January and should not contact their local authority in the meantime. The exact date that an eligible household will receive support will depend on when the application is made and when the payment can be processed by the relevant local authority.
