The British Government has published a ministerial direction on the £600 energy support scheme and how it will be rolled out in the North of Ireland in the coming months.
The document has been drafted by officials at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in London run by Secretary of State Grant Schapps.
It suggests the qualifying date for the payment is January 2, 2023, and whichever supplier a household is with on this date is responsible for getting the money to the customer.
The paper also mentions a “voucher validity period” which runs from issue of the voucher until March 31, 2023.
This suggests that all vouchers will have been issued in advance of that date and must be cashed by then.
The “scheme end date” is June 30, 2023 which suggests time has been built in to allow for (a) any complicated cases to be dealt with and (b) to allow the supply companies to complete all the necessary financial reconciliation, auditing and recover any overpayments.
It also suggests a “dry run” was carried out on December 11 with data provided on December 13.
This was to test the ability of the network operator (NIE Networks) to get the meter data to the suppliers and allow suppliers to get a good estimate of the the number of each type of customer.
It also reveals the Government will release funds to the suppliers no later than six days working days after they have received certain governance assurances.
So if the reference date is January 2 and all the governance assurances are met, it is possible that payments could start being made in the second week of January.
For those on direct debit payments, the £600 will be paid into their bank accounts.
And those on prepayment meters will receive their £600 by way of a voucher which can be redeemed for cash with appropriate identification to be provided – this will be outlined in further guidance yet to be published.
The voucher will be valid up to 23.59 on March 31.
The full text of the document can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1126742/ebss-ni-direction.pdf
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