Energy support payment Northern Ireland: Charity calls for central government helpline to deal with problems

The Government has outlined how about 500,000 households in Northern Ireland will receive a £600 energy support payment.People who pay for their energy by direct debit will receive the money directly into their bank accounts.Households without direct debits will receive a voucher for £600 that they can redeem at a post office.The vouchers will begin to be issued in mid January, by electricity suppliers.But the charity National Energy Action (NEA) said those firms would be flooded with calls from concerned householders in relation to a wide range of queries.Its director, Pat Austin, said she also had questions about how payments would delivered securely to people living in shared rented accommodation."There has already been a difficulty, due to all the pressures with energy. The suppliers are telling us they're fully stretched in terms of telephone calls and they're being inundated," she said."We believe that there is going to be a deluge of calls to suppliers and lots of problems here. We're looking for a central helpline to help us navigate our way through that."Speaking to the BBC's On Your Behalf programme, Ms Austin said payments were to be welcomed and that no-one should "let perfection get in the way of good".However, she criticised the government's communication strategy, saying it had been "a little bit all over the place".One of her concerns is the fact that vouchers for pre-payment meter customers will be addressed simply "to the householder".This means there is a great risk many of the vouchers could be mistaken for junk mail and thrown out."So it's very important that anybody waiting on this payment opens all their mail," Ms Austin said.The NEA also has concerns for renters who use a pre-payment meter card which has not yet been transferred into their own name."A lot of people who are in private rentals move into a home and they pick up a pre-payment card that the previous tenant has had," Ms Austin explained."And they maybe haven't contacted the supplier to have that information changed because they didn't have to."The charity is also very concerned about how people without bank accounts will cope. It is concerned about the high numbers of people walking about towns with significant amounts of cash.A government spokesperson responded: "In the absence of a Northern Ireland Executive, the UK government has stepped in and worked as quickly as possible to deliver vital energy bill support for households."We are determined to ensure that, whatever their circumstances, every customer in Northern Ireland gets the support they are entitled to."

The one-off £600 payment includes £400 as part of a UK-wide support scheme and an additional £200 in recognition of Northern Ireland’s dependence on home heating oil.

Energy customers elsewhere in the UK have already begun to receive support payments.

The roll-out in Northern Ireland was delayed, with the Government citing the lack of powersharing executive in Belfast as a major factor in the hold-up.