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John CampbellEconomics and business editor, BBC News NI
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Households in Northern Ireland are finding it much more expensive to heat their homes
Energy prices have been brought into sharp focus due to the war in the Middle East, and governments have been looking at how to help ease the pain for consumers.
What will it mean for households in Northern Ireland?
It won't be a re-run of 2023
In January 2023 all households in Northern Ireland received a £600 cash payment which they could use towards their energy bills.
That was part of a UK government scheme responding to the huge increases in the cost of oil, gas and electricity after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The original plan was for NI households which used gas heating to get £400 and those with oil heating to get £600.
That proved too complicated so in the end all households got the £600 payment.
In addition, the UK government effectively paid gas and electricity suppliers to sell energy to consumers at below cost.
On Tuesday the chancellor was clear that this sort of sweeping, universal support will not be on offer this time.
She said that instead help would be limited to "those who need it most" if energy bills spiral further due to the US-Israel war with Iran.
Help for some with heating oil
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The price of home heating oil in Northern Ireland has risen sharply
The UK government has given Stormont ministers just over £17m to help with the cost of heating oil.
If that was to be spread across the almost 500,000 households which use oil it would only be about £35 each.
There is consensus among ministers that the money will have to be targeted if it is to have any real impact.
It is likely that the targeting will involve helping those on means-tested benefits like Universal Credit and Pension Credit.
Accurately targeting those who use home heating oil remains a challenge.
Unlike gas and electricity, there are no central registers of who is an oil customer.
Estimates of the potential support per household range from £95 to £185 but that is very uncertain.
A small cut in electricity costs for everyone
This is the Northern Ireland portion of a UK government scheme which was announced long before the current crisis.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) had suggested this money could also be targeted, but the minister said that would not be practical due to the conditions attached by the UK Treasury.
The executive is due to discuss this on Thursday.
