The UK Government’s Energy Price Guarantee has launched in Northern Ireland this month reducing bills by up to 20p/kWh for electricity and 4.8p/kWh for gas.
The scheme will run until 31 March 2023 and will reduce the price suppliers charge customers for units of gas and electricity. This will help support households amid the energy crisis plaguing Europe.
Households will see the discount on their energy bills from this month, with savings for October’s energy use seen in bills from November. This will be applied to consumer energy bills automatically.
“This is vital support for households across Northern Ireland, providing relief for many families in the face of high energy bills,” said Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris.
“It is disappointing that this support has had to be delivered in the absence of a functioning Executive, but the government has been clear in its commitment to help Northern Ireland households through this challenging time.”
The Energy Prices Bill, revealed last month, enshrines in law the Energy Price Guarantee in the UK, which came into effect at the beginning of October. It is designed to limit the jump in domestic energy bills – which had been estimated to increase to as much as £6,500 – to £2,500 a year for a typical household by capping the electricity and gas units at 34.0p/kWh and 10.3p/kWh respectively, inclusive of VAT for standard variable tariffs.
Other support measures to be enshrined in law through the new Bill include the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which aimed to half the predicted MWh price for electricity and gas for businesses this winter, to £211/MWh and £75/MWh respectively.
“Getting this support to households across Northern Ireland will help ease the pressures facing families this winter, with consumers seeing a discount on their bills from this month,” said Business and Energy Secretary Grant Shapps.
“We’ve worked at pace to deliver this support, including introducing new powers so the UK government can get it to households as soon as possible, with a further £400 discount on bills due later this winter.”
Northern Ireland will also receive a £400 discount on bills as part of the Northern Ireland Energy Bills Support Scheme (NI EBSS). This matches the support set to be rolled out across the rest of UK from October.
The Energy Bills Support Scheme – as the discount has been dubbed – is available to the 1% of households that weren’t previously expected to receive it. This includes park home residents and those tenants whose landlords pay for their energy via a commercial contract for example.
“The Utility Regulator welcomes the delivery of both the Energy Price Guarantee scheme and the Energy Bill Relief Scheme in Northern Ireland, the first schemes to go live from the UK government’s energy support package,” said John French, chief executive of the Utility Regulator.
“We have worked hard to assist the UK government with the delivery of these schemes and we will continue to provide proactive support to get the additional schemes rolled out in Northern Ireland. Specifically, we are currently working with the UK government to ensure that the £400 Energy Bill Support Scheme payment is paid to Northern Ireland consumers as soon as possible.”