Can your household get Energy Bill Relief?
11 Sep 2023
The Australian and Northern Territory (NT) governments are jointly funding electricity bill relief.
If eligible, households can get relief on power bills of up to $350.
If you are a small business, check if you are eligible for electricity relief.
Check if you are eligible
To be eligible, you must be the person named on your household electricity, and one of the following:
- an NT Concessions Scheme member
- living in an eligible remote community
- eligible communities are those that are Indigenous Essential Services customers
- receiving another eligible benefit.
Other eligible benefits include:
- all other Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Gold cards
- Carer Allowance
- Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
- Family Tax Benefit
- Health Care Card
- Indigenous Essential Services
- Low Income Health Care Card.
The Energy Bill Relief is different to the NT Concession Scheme electricity concession.
You can only apply once per household, even if there is more than one eligible person living there.
Check what group applies to you
Bill relief will be applied depending on how you meet eligibility.
That will determine what, if anything, you need to do to access energy bill relief and when you can expect it.
Group 1
This group applies if you are:
- a current NT Concessions Scheme member and a named electricity account holder for your household or
- living in an eligible remote community.
For this group, you don’t need to do anything. Your bill relief will be processed from August 2023.
When you can expect bill relief
For customers who receive a regular electricity bill, the following applies:
- a $350 credit
- applied in quarterly instalments across your billing cycle for the 2023-24 financial year.
Your energy provider will calculate this for you and apply the appropriate credit to your bills.
For pre-paid customers, your meter type will determine when and how you will receive bill relief.
If you live in an urban location and have an electronic pre-paid meter, your energy retailer will apply two $175 bill relief credits:
- one in August 2023
- one in January 2024.
If you live in an eligible remote community, you will receive a one-off bill credit for your pre-paid meter of $350.
If you are part of an embedded network
If you are part of an embedded network, such as a caravan park, you will need to contact the NT Energy Bill Relief team to confirm your details.
This may include providing bank details so you can receive your Energy Bill Relief into your account.
To receive this, you must:
- contact the team before 31 March 2024 and
- provide documentation about your power use from 1 July 2023.
Group 2
You are in group 2 if you don’t fall into the above category, but you receive another eligible benefit such as:
- Carer Allowance
- Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
- Family Tax Benefit
- Health Care Card
- Indigenous Essential Services
- Low Income Health Care Card
- all other DVA Gold cards not covered by the NT Concession Scheme.
Services Australia or the DVA will contact you in September 2023.
You will need to ‘opt in’ to access Energy Bill Relief.
Services Australia will ask you to fill in an online form in myGov to complete the opt-in process, which includes:
- consenting to sharing your information with the NT Energy Bill Relief team
- providing your electricity account number (if you have one).
If you hold a DVA benefit
If you hold a DVA benefit, you will need to contact the team with your:
- unique identification number or veteran file number and
- consent for the team to check your eligibility for bill relief.
You must opt in before 31 March 2024.
When you can expect bill relief
Customers who receive a regular electricity bill
Once you have opted in, your eligibility will be confirmed and the bill relief will be spread across your billing cycle per quarter for the remainder of the 2023-24 financial year.
Your energy provider will calculate this for you and apply the appropriate credit to your bills.
Customers who have an electronic pre-paid meter
Payments will be split into 2 of $175 each. Your energy provider will apply the bill relief directly to your meter.
Alternative energy customers
This includes customers who are part of an embedded network. For example, a caravan park.
You will receive a one-off payment of $350.
You will need to contact the team to confirm your details before 31 March 2024. This includes providing bank details to deposit your energy bill relief into your account.
To get your $350 energy bill relief, you must contact the team by 31 March 2024 and provide documentation about your power use from 1 July 2023.
Contact
Call the Energy Bill Relief team on 1800 296 900 or find your nearest NT Concession and Recognition Unit.
Information shared from, https://nt.gov.au/community/grants-and-volunteers/grants/energy-bill-relief-households