Energy bills: Fuel poverty scheme applicant cap 'needed to manage funds'

The communities minister has said a daily cap on the number of people who can apply for a fuel poverty scheme is to ensure the funding lasts until March.

Deirdre Hargey said the limit, set at 333 applications, was about "managing" the £2m available.

Applicants have reported problems applying due to the limit.

Ms Hargey said her department was working to increase the capacity of the scheme, which opened last week.

"This is about managing the money that we have to ensure we spread it between now and the end of March," the Sinn Féin assembly member (MLA) told the BBC's Evening Extra programme.

"This is only one of a number of schemes we're bringing forward and this is actually the smallest scheme.

"We're working at pace to increase the capacity of the scheme and also looking to increase the number of cases we can take each day."

Alliance MLA Kellie Amstrong said the "extraordinarily tight" eligibility criteria for the scheme, administered by Bryson Charitable Group, had not been properly promoted.

She said: "The grant hasn't been promoted properly because this isn't a grant if you're just in fuel poverty, this is for people who are in fuel poverty and are about to be cut off.

"We have pushed the department to say what about other people who are in poverty and there may well be something later for people who are struggling with the increased costs.

"The system is going to be open until 31 March, but it's cold now, people are in trouble now."

Ms Hargey defended the promotion of the scheme and said "the communication is out there".

A proposal for a new scheme to help with energy bills will be put forward by the communities minister at a meeting of the Stormont executive on Thursday, Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O'Neill said.

In a tweet, the deputy first minister said the new finance package would help heat the homes of 280,000 people if it was approved.

People applying to the scheme have detailed the problems in getting through that process, which opens at 09:00 GMT each day.

The application threshold is frequently reached within half an hour, they have said.

Robyn told Good Morning Ulster she had been on every morning before 09:00 since the scheme opened and eventually got through the form on Monday, before being told it had been "disabled" when she submitted her application.

"It's sitting constantly on your phone looking to see," she said.

"It would make a big difference because I only have a pound on my electric - I'm a single parent and I have a wee boy."

Another applicant, Sharon, said she had got through the application on the opening morning, but only received a text on Tuesday to say her application had been rejected.

"I suffer with severe arthritis, so I need heat, I need constant heat," she said.

"Believe it or not, from Christmas Eve, I have spent £120 on gas.

"On Thursday actually when I applied, my meter was down to six units."

Sharon added that she was being forced to cut back in other areas because she "could not survive without heat".

The Bryson Charitable Group acknowledged that the scheme was suffering from high levels of demand, with many of those applying not actually eligible.

"The unprecedented demand from the public has led to us reaching our daily agreed limit very quickly each day," the company said in a statement.

"This scheme is akin to a food bank and is designed to help those with little or no fuel. 

"Unfortunately, it is inevitable that demand will be considerably more than the scope of the scheme."

The Department for Communities said the scheme was "only a very small part of the planned overall response to the crisis".

"The vast majority of this year's Winter Fuel Payments have been issued and to date 290,632 people have received their payment, with a total value of £51.7m," a spokesperson said.