Energy Bills Support Scheme: £400 payment 'may not come until January'

The timing and delivery of the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme is still unclear, the Utility Regulator has said.

Households in Northern Ireland are due to be credited with the payment automatically to help with energy costs this winter.

But it has been warned it may not arrive until January.

There is also confusion over whether the money will come as one lump sum or in several smaller instalments.

A one-off £100 payment to households using oil-fired central heating and other alternative heat sources has been confirmed, but a date for delivery is yet to be confirmed and it has been warned it could be 2023.

When Liz Truss was prime minister, she pledged it would be paid in November.

The UK government said it was "working at pace to deliver a solution which accounts for differences in the Northern Ireland energy market so it can get to households as soon as possible".

Elsewhere in the UK, gas and electricity customers are receiving the payment in the form of six monthly payments of £67.

The schemes are both separate to the Energy Price Guarantee, which came into effect on Tuesday and caps the price for a unit of gas and electricity until April.

Kevin Shiels, the Utility Regulator's director of retail and consumer protection, said government ministers were "still working through" when households in Northern Ireland would get the £400 payment and whether it would be as one lump sum or not.

"The final decision hasn't been made yet, but will be made within the next few weeks," he told the BBC's Evening Extra programme.

Mr Shiels said he was hopeful the scheme would be delivered before Christmas, but added he could not guarantee anything.

He said it could be January before customers accounts were credited.

The scheme will apply to people who use pre-payment meters as well as those who pay for their energy using direct debit.

Mr Shiels said the £100 alternative fuel payment for people who do not have gas-fired central heating was the "least developed" of the current energy schemes.

"It's probably going to be the last (scheme) to be delivered - probably into 2023," he said.

Qualifying households may be paid the £100 through their electricity suppliers, Mr Shiels added.

"That process still has to be confirmed and worked through."

Business and Energy Secretary Grant Shapps said: "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.

"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."