The first stage of the process to roll out £600 government payments to households in the North of Ireland will begin later today, January 2.
Monday marks a key date in the plan which has taken months to put together as families struggle with crippling energy costs and soaring inflation.
Households will receive their payments in different ways, depending on how they pay for domestic electricity.
For direct debit customers, the energy firm they are signed up to on January 2 will be tasked with distributing £600 directly into their bank accounts.
The payments are expected to arrive between mid-January and late March.
The money is intended to help households with their home energy costs, however the recipients can spend it in any way they choose.
The one-off payments are part of the NI Energy Bills Support Scheme and will be distributed automatically to customers who pay for a domestic electricity supply.
Electricity customers who pay their bills on a quarterly basis will receive vouchers in the post, rather than having the £600 credited to their bank accounts.
Householders who pay for electricity via a keypad or pre-payment meter will also receive their £600 via posted vouchers.
The vouchers can either be deposited in a bank or credit union or redeemed for cash at the Post Office, but must be cashed in by 31 March 2023.
An estimated 500,000 households across the North of Ireland will be in line to receive vouchers.
Proof of address and photo identification will be required to exchange the vouchers for money.
Details of the payments were announced last year as part of the UK-wide energy support scheme, a government response to help people with record wholesale energy costs.
Households in Great Britain are currently receiving a total of £400 in instalments, which have taken the form of discounts of about £67 off their electricity bills each month from October to March.
In the North of Ireland, households are in line to receive a total of £600 by March – the extra money being a £200 “oil payment” to reflect the fact that a large proportion of customers use home heating oil.
All households here will qualify for the £200 oil payment, regardless of whether or not they use home heating oil, because of the complexity of the North’s energy market.
Details of the January 2 cut-off point for determining which electricity supplier will be responsible for distributing payments to direct debit customers were announced last week.
The scheme will shut at 11.59 pm on March 31, 2023.
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