Fuel Allowance

Fuel Allowance is a payment that helps with the cost of heating your home during the colder months. It is paid to people who are dependent on a long-term social welfare payment or Health Service Executive (HSE) payments, including one-parent families, and it provides a contribution to the increased cost of heating bills in the winter.

You may qualify for Fuel Allowance if you are getting one of the following:

  • One-Parent Family Payment
  • Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment
  • Widow’s or Widowers’, Surviving Civil Partner(Contributory and Non-Contributory) Pension or State Pension (Contributory and Non-Contributory)
  • Deserted Wife’s Benefit or Allowance
  • Basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance
  • Disability Allowance

 and you are living alone or with dependent children.

The Fuel Allowance was €33 per week in 2022. It is paid for 28 weeks of the year from October to April. The Fuel Allowance is paid with your main social welfare payment on the same day.

You can request to have it paid as two lump sum payments. To get your Fuel Allowance paid in two lump sums, fill in the Change the Payment Frequency form (pdf) at least one month before the first lump sum is due.

In March, and again in May 2022, extra payments of €125 and €100 were made to people getting Fuel Allowance.

More information on applying for the Fuel Allowance, including the full list of qualifying payments is available below:

More Information



Budget 2023

  • It was announced on September 27th, 2022, as part of Budget 2023 measures that the Fuel Allowance weekly rate will remain at €33 per week.
  • From January 2023 the weekly means threshold increases by €80, to €200 plus the equivalent of the maximum weekly rate of Contributory Pension. This means that more people may qualify for the payment.
  • Current recipients of Fuel Allowance will get an additional once-off payment of €400 this winter in November 2022.
  • Disablement Benefit and half-rate Carer’s Allowance will be disregarded in the means test for Fuel Allowance in January 2023.
  • All domestic electricity customers, regardless of income, will get €600 credit to help reduce electricity bills, even if they don’t qualify for Fuel Allowance. The credit will be paid in 3 instalments of €200. The first credit will be added to your bill in November 2022, the second in January 2023 and the third electricity credit will be made in March 2023.