A local woman has been left feeling short-changed after she was told the €150 electricity credit she was expecting in her latest bill won't be applied. Going simply by the name "Rita" the concerned listener said she was "depending on it". In October, the Government announced electricity credits totalling €450 would be made available in three instalments of €150 to every household.
According to Electricity Ireland, Rita's supplier, "the Government Electricity Credit will be automatically available to residential electricity customer accounts and no action will be required from the customer." However, Rita has just been told by her supplier that because her electricity usage was so low at 146 kilowatts, she doesn't qualify for the credit.
The qualifying usage is just 4k/w more at 150 kilowatt, but since Rita is below that rate, she now has to pay in full her latest electricity bill, which stands at €110. Rita contacted Northern sound to make other people, especially those who live alone and don't use much electricity, to be aware. "I wondered why I didn't get credit off my bill, so I got in contact with Electric Ireland," Rita told the Wider View programme, "And they said I had low usage. My usage was only 146 k/w and it should've been 150 k/w in order to avail of the government payment but, I was depending on it y'know because I had no problem with it last year; it automatically came into my account last year."
