The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) started making Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) payments in Northern Ireland in January 2023, three months later than in Great Britain, according to a National Audit Office report published on 7 February 20231.
In Great Britain, the EBSS provides a £400 grant for domestic electricity billpayers, paid in six monthly instalments from October 20221. In Northern Ireland, government is making a one-off £600 payment that combines both the EBSS and the Alternative Fuel Payment (AFP)1. The AFP is a £200 one-off payment to households not connected to the gas grid, which use alternative fuels such as oil or liquid gas1.
The delay is attributed to the more complex landscape of suppliers in the Northern Ireland market and to BEIS taking on delivery later than for the GB schemes. The original plan was for the Northern Ireland Executive to deliver the support1. Because the Northern Ireland payment was combined with the AFP, households there started receiving that payment ahead of eligible households in Great Britain, where BEIS planned to make AFP payments in February 20231.
"In January 2023, BEIS started making payments for EBSS in Northern Ireland, three months later than in GB."
The report sets out the wider support schemes in place over the same period. The Energy Price Guarantee reduced the average annual domestic energy bill to £2,500 from October 2022 until March 2023, and to £3,000 from April 2023 until April 20241. Average annual household bills for gas and electricity had risen from £1,277 in winter 2021-22 to £3,549 in winter 2022-231. The government's current estimate of the schemes' cost is £69 billion, lower than the original estimate of £139 billion at the business case stage1.
| Scheme element | Great Britain | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|
| EBSS | £400 grant, six monthly instalments from October 2022 | Combined one-off £600 payment with AFP, payments from January 2023 |
| Alternative Fuel Payment | £200 one-off payment, planned for February 2023 | Combined into the £600 payment |
Why it matters for households
For a household in Northern Ireland, the £600 payment arrived as a single sum rather than as the six monthly instalments paid to electricity billpayers in Great Britain, and it arrived later than the first GB instalments1. The report notes that support for people who use alternative fuels may not reach all intended recipients because it requires consumers to take action, such as applying for support, and that BEIS has faced similar challenges with the EBSS, particularly for customers on prepayment meters. By the end of December 2022, 71% of these customers had redeemed the funding1.
The timing of payments affects when a household can put money against a bill, which matters where a home is off the gas grid and buys oil or liquid gas in bulk. The report does not give a breakdown of how many Northern Ireland households had received the £600 payment by any given date, and no figure for take-up in Northern Ireland has been reported1.
What happens next
The report states that BEIS is yet to announce when the non-domestic Alternative Fuel Payments will be made1. The government has announced it will consult as soon as is feasible after April 2023 on amending the Energy Price Guarantee so that domestic high-energy users have their support capped, and that support for non-domestic organisations will be reduced from April 2023, with energy and trade intensive sectors receiving a higher level of support than other sectors1.
Sources1 cited
- Energy bills support (Summary), nao.org.uk