New £600 energy support payment vouchers on the way to thousands hit by 'technical issues', say Post Office

The problem primarily impacted Power NI customers, along with a total of 119 customers of Airtricity.

The long-awaited vouchers are being sent out as part of a government scheme to help people cope with soaring energy costs, alongside direct payments into the bank accounts of those who pay for their electricity via direct debit.

It is comprised of two parts – a payment worth £400 for general energy costs, along with an additional £200 to help households cope with the cost of home heating oil.

In Great Britain, where most people are connected to the gas network rather than relying on home heating oil, the payments began to roll out in October last year and were made in instalments on monthly bills rather than a single, lump sum of £600 as in Northern Ireland.

A spokesperson for the Post Office acknowledged that thousands of households had been affected by a technical issue that prevented their vouchers from being exchanged for cash or deposited in a bank account.

In a statement to the News Letter on Friday afternoon, the Post Office said: “New, valid, energy support vouchers for the 6,000 Power NI and 119 Airtricity Energy customers impacted by the technical issue, which came to light yesterday, have been posted today. These vouchers will start arriving on doormats from Saturday 21 January. The vouchers will be dated 20 January.

“It has emerged fewer Airtricity Energy customers were impacted than first reported – it is 119 and not 150.”

The spokesperson added: “The technical glitch has been resolved swiftly and customers affected will start to receive their new vouchers this weekend.

“We understand how urgently this support is needed and want to apologise once again to anyone who could not redeem their original voucher. We ask for customers to be vigilant and look out for their new vouchers so they can redeem them.”

DUP MP Carla Lockhart had been amongst those to raise concerns.

Yesterday, she said: “It is regrettable that this error has occurred and some additional inconvenience caused, but it is welcome that the steps required to rectify this are being taken quickly.”