Northern Ireland Executive will continue to push for energy supports – minister

The Northern Ireland Executive will continue to push for support from the British Government if energy costs continue to rise, a Stormont minister has said.

Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald said that the £17 million in supports announced for Northern Ireland was “clearly inadequate” and did not “go anywhere near far enough”.

Last week, it was announced that Northern Ireland would receive a £17 million share of a £53 million package launched by the British Government in response to a sharp spike in heating oil costs because of the war in the Middle East.

The Sinn Fein Stormont minister said that the Executive were aware that people were struggling with the cost of living, and that figures indicated the cost of oil for households had nearly doubled since February 26.

“The £17 million announced by the British Government is clearly inadequate,” Ms Archibald told MLAs on Monday.

“Therefore it’s important that whatever support is available, or becomes available going forward, is targeted at those most in need.

“I am meeting regularly with the ministers from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Michael Shanks and Martin McCluskey, and I will continue to argue for additional support if the conflict continues to drive up energy prices.”

Ms Archibald also said the “scale of the resources needed” were beyond the means of “an already underfunded Executive”.

In addition, she said that further energy supports would also be rolled out on July 1 pending the approval of the Executive.

A package of £81 million for Northern Ireland was announced in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget to help with energy bills.

The funding will be rolled out over the next three years to facilitate a £30 reduction in electricity bills.

She said the necessary statutory instrument to roll out the scheme in Northern Ireland was tabled at Westminster last Monday and will be in place from June.

“I and my department have been working to implement the reduction in electricity bills announced by the British Chancellor in the budget last November,” Ms Archibald told the Assembly.

“Despite originally having been excluded from the British Government scheme, I secured approval to implement a similar scheme here.

“The necessary statutory instrument to provide legislative cover from Westminster was laid last Monday and is due to be in place in June.

“Subject to Executive agreement, my department will be ready to go live with the scheme on 1 July.

“The Treasury has consistently insisted that the funding can only be used for a comparable scheme, meaning a £30 discount on every household’s electricity bill.

“This was confirmed in writing as recently as last Tuesday.”