COMMUNITIES Minister Deirdre Hargey has requested over £13million in additional funding for a new scheme to support families with rising energy bills.
The South Belfast MLA has written to the Finance Minister, Conor Murphy, to request funding for the proposed scheme.
Her request comes amidst soaring gas and electricity prices, which are set to increase further in the new year.
The North's largest electricity supplier, Power NI, has announced it will increase its price for domestic customers by 21.4 per cent from January 1, 2022.
Competitors in the electricity supply market have increased their prices across the board.
The two largest gas suppliers in the North, Firmus Energy and SSE Airtricity, have both increased their prices.
Firmus Energy is putting gas prices up by 38 per cent from December 3. The company had previously announced that would implement a 35 per cent increase from October.
SSE Airtricity increased its gas prices by 21.8 per cent in October.
Announcing her proposals for a new energy bill support scheme, Ms Hargey said: "We all know that gas and electricity prices are going through the roof and families are really struggling. That's why I've written to the Finance Minister asking him for over £13 million in investment in this scheme that I was to bring forward.
"This is on top of the Winter Fuel Payment, in which I'm already paying out to over 280,000 households.
"I want to ensure that we put money back into people's pockets and help them during this cost-of-living and fuel crisis."
