NI households set for £30 electricity reduction in July

All households in Northern Ireland will get a £30 reduction in electricity bills for the next three years as part of a UK government scheme.

The reduction will be given for the first time in July, and in the following two years it will apply in April.

It is a Northern Ireland-specific version of an initiative being implemented in the rest of the UK.

The Westminster legislation needed for the scheme is now underway and it is understood the Economy Minister, Caomihe Archibald, has brought a proposal to the executive.

There has been some political controversy over the scheme and how the money could be used.

The scheme, which will cost £81m, follows on from an announcement made at the UK budget in November 2025.

It removed two environmental levies in Great Britain which should cut household electricity bills by £150 a year.

Northern Ireland operates in a different electricity market from the rest of UK with its own regulations.

The larger of the two levies being removed from bills in GB does not exist in NI, accounting for the smaller saving which will be seen in NI bills.

The money is ringfenced for electricity costs so cannot be used for other purposes.

Earlier this week the Secretary of State, Hillary Benn, had suggested it could possibly be used for a different energy support scheme if the Treasury agreed to reclassify the money.

A Department for the Economy spokesperson said: "Treasury has confirmed that the funding can only be used for a scheme that is comparable to the scheme in Britain, which is a universal discount for electricity customers."

The economy minister has accused the DUP of not understanding or deliberately seeking to mislead the public about the scheme.

That came after the DUP criticised her department for not moving quickly enough to distribute the money.

The necessary legislation is expected to be in place in June.

Then in July electricity customers paying by direct debit monthly or quarterly will have £30 credited to their accounts, and pay-as-you-go customers will have £30 credited to their keycard card.

In the subsequent two years of the scheme the credit will apply from 1 April.

Questions have been raised around whether the £81m should be distributed equally among every household or split into larger sums and given to those most in need.

"£30 to people who are earning over £150,000 means nothing, but it actually means a huge amount to those people who are on the lowest incomes," an Ulster University law lecturer and anti-poverty campaigner told The Nolan Show.

Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick suggested that a means-based allocation system would be preferable to both the UK Treasury and NI Executive, but that implementing one would entail "additional complexities".

"How would you means test to get this payment out to the people who need it most?"

Fitzpatrick speculated that one option would be involve tying relief to those on universal credit, but such a method would overlook working people who were "really struggling with the extent of these price rises".