A NEW social welfare boost is set to become available this month, providing support for thousands of homeowners as cost of living crisis continues.
The energy credit will be paid in two instalments of €125 for every Irish home.
The first payment was made between November 1 and December 31 last year, and the second credit will be made available between January 1 and February 28.
The date when you received your energy credit depends on the date that your supplier normally sends your bill.
It depends on your particular billing cycle whether the credit shows up on your initial bill during specific payment periods.
However, the suppliers have information on their websites about the dates the credit is shown on customers’ bills.
On the bill, you will see a ‘credit line’ for €114.68, which is the instalment of €125 excluding the VAT.
Depending on your supplier, it may be called “Government Electricity Credit 1 or 2″ or a shorter form (such as Govt. Credit).
“Government,” “Govt,” or “Gov” must be included, and “1” or “2” must be used to indicate which installment you are receiving.
If you plan on switching electricity suppliers, you will not receive the credit twice.
All home power accounts that are not low-usage accounts are eligible for the credit.
This implies that if you have household electricity accounts in several residences in Ireland, you will receive credit for each account as long as it is not a low-usage account.
PSTB REDUCED MORTAGE RATES & CASHBACK
However, that is not the only boost that Irish homeowners can take advantage of as PTSB has announced new mortgage rates, which came into effect from January 17.
And it’s available to both new and existing personal customers.
Since December 2023, PTSB has announced four cuts to fixed-rate mortgages and the reduced rates are now:
- 2-year fixed rates were reduced by up to 0.55 per cent
- 3-year fixed rates were reduced by up to 0.30 per cent
- 4-year fixed rates were reduced by up to 0.65 per cent
- 5-year fixed rates were reduced by up to 0.95 per cent
- 7-year fixed rates were reduced by up to .95 per cent
And PTSB is also offering 2 per cent cashback on monthly mortgage repayments to existing mortgage customers.
According to the bank, the customer’s monthly payback amount determines how much cashback they receive, meaning that with a €1,500 monthly mortgage repayment, customers might get €30 back monthly.
PTSB mortgage customers must make their monthly mortgage payments by direct debit from a PTSB Explore Current Account to be eligible for the cashback.
The cashback offer is available for qualifying customers until at least the end of 2030, meaning customers can save money for up to six years.
