Economy Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald has questioned whether the secretary of state is "mischief making" after a social media exchange around energy payments. The Sinn Féin MLA posted on X, external about a new one-off electricity bill reduction announced on Thursday, which Sir Chris Bryant, reposted, external saying: "I'm really glad that the UK government is funding this." Archibald said she was "bemused and surprised" at his "intervention on social media". A UK government spokesperson said the funding for the Household Electricity Discount Scheme was provided through the prime minister's "commitment to remove VAT and some levies from electricity bills".
"As I have set out, the British government initially didn't intend that this support would apply here, we had to make the case for that, we then had to design a scheme," Archibald told BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme. She described what Sir Chris said as "a little bit condescending". "Frankly I'm not sure what the secretary of state was up to, mischief making?
But I think that question would be better posed to him." The minister said she has not been in touch with the secretary of state personally since the online exchange, but said she will continue to focus on finding a way forward in budget negotiations. This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies.
You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. Households across Northern Ireland will get the one-off £63 reduction in electricity bills from next month and it will be applied automatically without the need for an application.
The schemes are being funded by the UK government. Bank payment customers will have their bills automatically reduced while pay-as-you-go customers will receive £63 in credit when they top up their meter. The only complication for pay-as-you-go customers is they should not buy more than £112 of credit if they want to get the discount all in one go.
That is because meters are set up to take a maximum payment of £175. Top ups over this value means the £63 payment will be split over a subsequent top up. In announcing the scheme, Archibald said the money would "provide some help for families as winter kicks in and energy bills rise".
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