Explainer: Supports to help alleviate heating costs

Fuel Allowance is a payment to help with the cost of heating your home in the winter months. It is paid to one person in a household. The allowance season normally begins in late September and is paid for 28 weeks, until early April 2026.

The current rate of Fuel Allowance is €33 a week. You can choose to get it weekly, or in two instalments (lump sums), in September and January. Currently, the total Fuel Allowance payment over 28 weeks is €924.

How to qualify for Fuel Allowance

You must satisfy three conditions. You must live alone or with certain people, e.g. spouse, civil partner or cohabitant who qualifies for an increase on your pension or social welfare payment or is getting a payment in their own right. You can also live with a person who is getting Carer’s Allowance or Carer’s Benefit and is caring for you or your partner/spouse or with a person who would qualify for the fuel allowance in their own right.

You must also be in receipt of a qualifying payment (unless you are 66 or over). These include State Pensions Contributory & Non-Contributory, Invalidity Pension, Disability Allowance, One Parent Family Payment & Farm Assist. Contact your local Citizens Information Centre for more information on these. It’s important to note, if you are over 66, you do not need to be on a qualifying payment.

Means Test

The Department of Social Protection (DSP) examines all your sources of income. Your gross weekly income must be below a certain amount to pass the means test. You are usually accepted as passing the test if you are getting a qualifying social assistance (means-tested) payment such as State Pension Non-Contributory or Disability Allowance, as you have already satisfied the means test.

Income from some social welfare payments and certain other sources is not counted in the means test. If you are under 66, the first €20,000 of your capital is not taken into account, while if you are 66 or over, the first €50,000 of your capital is not taken into account.

The value of your home is never assessed. If you have a second property, its rental income is assessed. However, the capital value (less any mortgage outstanding) will be assessed if the property is not rented. If you are renting out a room in your home, you can have an income from it of up to €269.23 a week (€14,000 per year) without affecting your Fuel Allowance. The person renting the room must use it for a minimum of 28 consecutive days and cannot be an employee of yours or an immediate family member.

If you are over 66 can have income of up to €524 per week, or €1,048 per week for a couple and still qualify for Fuel Allowance. A single person under 66 can have income up to €489.30 per week and a couple where the qualified adult is under 66 can have weekly income up to €682. This increases to €748.70 if the qualified adult is 66 or over.

Changing the Frequency of Payment

To change how your Fuel Allowance is paid, fill in a Change the Payment Frequency form at least a month before the first instalment is due. You can get this from your local social welfare office or Citizens Information Centre

Telephone Support Allowance

If you are getting Fuel Allowance as well as the Living Alone Increase, you will also get a Telephone Support Allowance of €2.50 a week. It is paid automatically with your main social welfare payment, so you do not have to apply. It amounts to an additional €130 over the year.

Other Supports

The Household Benefits Package (HBP) helps with the cost of your electricity or gas and the TV licence. You do not have to be living alone to get it, but only one person in a household can get the Package.

You can get the HBP if you are 70 or over. You do not need to be getting a state pension, and the package is not means tested. Under 70s can also get the HBP, but extra rules apply.

How to qualify for HBP

You must be living in Ireland (full-time, all year round), be the only person in your household getting the HBP, be aged 70 or over or be under 70 and meet the additional rules for people aged under 70. You will need to have the electricity or gas bill in your name if you are applying to have an Electricity or Gas Allowance paid as a credit on your bill.

You do not need the bill to be in your name if you are applying to get the Electricity or Gas Allowance paid as cash to your bank or post office account, or if the bill is in a landlord’s name. If the latter, you must be living in self-contained accommodation and your landlord will need to confirm in writing that you are a tenant and paying your own energy bills.

Additional rules for people under 70

You can get the HBP if you are getting a qualifying social welfare payment. If you live with your spouse, you must be getting an increase in your qualifying social welfare payment for them, or they are getting a qualifying payment in their own right. If you are aged 66- 70 and not getting a qualifying social welfare payment, you must pass a means test. Here, the DSP examines all your sources of income.

Your weekly income must be below a certain amount to pass the means test.

What is covered by the HBP?

There are two allowances in the Household Benefits Package - the Electricity Allowance or Natural Gas Allowance of €35 monthly, and a free television licence.

The Allowance can be paid as a credit against your energy bill or into your bank or post office account. It is paid on the first Tuesday of the month. If you are collecting it from the post office using a Public Services Card, you have 90 days to collect your payment.

If the Allowance is paid as a credit against your bill each month, the bill must be in your name. If you don’t use all your monthly Allowance, you carry it forward to your next bill. If you switch to a different energy provider, you will have to contact your previous provider for a refund of unused credit.

From September 8, 2025, all new applicants for the HBP will get paid the Allowance to their nominated bank or post office. If you are an existing HBP customer and are already getting a monthly credit towards your electricity or gas bill, you will continue to get the credit unless you change your supplier.

Are there any supports for people who have special heating needs?

You may be able to get additional weekly supplements under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance Scheme. The heating supplement is an additional weekly payment to help with the cost of heating your home. You may get a heating supplement, if you can show you have extra heating needs because of your age, medical condition or disability and if you are living alone or only with a dependent adult or dependent children. You will also need to satisfy a means test.