Northern Ireland households to receive £63 electricity discount from October

A £63 electricity discount will be given to around 860,000 households across Northern Ireland from next month, with no application required.

The Household Electricity Discount will begin from 6 October and will be applied automatically by electricity suppliers to eligible domestic customers.

The support is not means-tested and does not depend on how much electricity a household uses.

Both bill-paying customers and those using pre-pay or keypad meters will be eligible.

How will the £63 electricity discount work?

Customers who receive electricity bills will have a £60 credit automatically applied to their electricity account.

As the credit is applied before VAT is calculated, the overall saving to the household will be £63.

Customers should see the payment identified on their electricity bill as “NIRO & VAT Govt Credit”.

Pre-pay and keypad customers will instead receive £63 in credit through their meter when they next top up from 6 October.

There is an important point for keypad customers to be aware of.

Because the maximum amount that can be added to a meter in a single transaction is £175, customers who want to receive the entire £63 government credit at once should make a top-up of no more than £112.

Anyone topping up by more than £112 will not lose any of the support, but the remaining government credit will be added through subsequent top-ups.

No application needed

The discount will be provided automatically regardless of which electricity supplier an eligible household uses. Households do not have to register or complete an application form to receive the support.

Eligibility for this year’s payment will be determined by electricity suppliers using information held by NIE Networks as of 4 October.

The scheme applies to eligible domestic properties rather than individuals, meaning a payment can also be made in respect of more than one property where each has an eligible domestic electricity account.

For rented properties, the discount will be applied to whoever holds the electricity account. Where the tenant is the account holder, it will be credited to their account, while an account held by a landlord will receive the discount instead.

Support secured following talks with Treasury

The £63 payment combines two different sources of support.

Earlier this year, the Treasury approved £85.4 million to cover 75% of the domestic cost of the Northern Ireland Renewables Obligation over a three-year period.

A further £25.7 million has now been secured for 2026/27 following the temporary reduction in VAT on domestic electricity in Great Britain.

As that VAT reduction could not be implemented in Northern Ireland from October in the same way, the Department for the Economy worked with the Treasury to provide equivalent assistance through the electricity discount scheme.

The total cost of this year’s scheme is estimated at around £53 million.

Economy Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald said the payment would provide some assistance to families as winter approaches and energy costs increase.

She confirmed that households will not be required to complete forms or take any action to receive the payment.

Further discounts planned

The Household Electricity Discount Scheme is expected to continue in 2027 and 2028.

The value of those payments has not yet been confirmed and will be announced ahead of the discount being applied each year.

Anyone who believes they have not received the discount should contact their electricity supplier in the first instance.

The Department has also warned householders to be alert to potential scams surrounding the scheme.

Customers will never be asked to apply for the £63 payment, provide bank details or pay a fee to receive it. Any message asking householders to do so should be treated as suspicious.