Consumer: When will the new electricity credit arrive?
As part of Budget 2024, it was announced earlier this month that all electricity customers would receive a €450 credit to help tackle this winter’s energy bills.
The new credit, which will be delivered to up to 2.3 million homes nationwide, is to be overseen by the energy regulator, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), and will be rolled out by ESB Networks.
As it stands, the credit is for domestic electricity customers who are registered with an electricity supplier in the Republic of Ireland. It’s not available for gas customers or businesses. You don’t have to apply for the credit. If you’re a domestic customer, you’ll get it automatically.
It’s going to be paid in three instalments of €150 each. The first will hit in December, the second in January and the third in March,
She says: “The total payments will be €412.84 excluding VAT across the three instalments. The credit will have an identifier on your bill of either ‘Government Electricity Credit 1, 2 or 3’ or an abbreviated version of this depending on your supplier, e.g. ‘Govt. Credit 1’.”
The exact date you get your credit will depend on the date that your supplier normally sends your bill. Each supplier will have information on their website regarding when exactly the credit will show up.
If your electricity bill comes to less than €150, then the balance of the credit will be carried over onto your next bill. You won’t lose any benefit because you’re not using enough electricity.
Minister for Finance Michael McGrath confirmed a €450 energy credit in the Budget.
If you’re worried you haven’t received the credit, make sure you check the information on your supplier’s website about when the credit is due to be issued. If you haven’t received anything by the end of January, there’s clearly a problem, so get in touch with your supplier to find out what’s happened. You’ll find their contact details on the bill.
If you’re a tenant and you pay your landlord for your electricity, as opposed to paying the energy provider yourself, your landlord should pass each €150 credit onto you. If this becomes a cause of conflict, get in touch with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) who will help settle the dispute.
Note too that if you have debt on your electricity account, the credit can be used to pay this off.
Almost as soon as the credit was announced, the scammers got busy trying to capitalise on it. A scam text is currently making the rounds asking people to click on a link in order to claim their credit. These texts link to a site that looks like gov.ie. It’s a scam. People are warned not to click on the link or enter any personal details.
To repeat: you don’t have to take any action to secure the credit. In the vast majority of cases, each of the €150 instalments will be deducted automatically from your bill, no matter who your supplier is.
The past two years have been extremely tough for energy customers in Ireland as gas and electricity prices reached record levels following the outbreak of war in Ukraine. It does, however, appear as if there’s finally some light at the end of the tunnel.
Over the past few weeks all the main energy suppliers have announced moderate price reductions of between 10% and 20% on average, which will come into effect from early November.