Energy Supplement 101-03090000

Customers must be:

• residing in Australia
• temporarily absent from Australia (the supplement can be paid for the first 6 weeks of a temporary absence)
• receiving a qualifying Energy Supplement payment

Customers can receive Energy Supplement as part of their ISP.

Customers receiving ISP fortnightly will receive the Energy Supplement fortnightly by default but can choose to be paid quarterly.

The payment frequency of Energy Supplement aligns with the payment frequency of Pension Supplement Minimum Amount. This means, customers who receive Pension Supplement quarterly, ABSTUDY Masters and Doctorate customers and Grandfathered CSHC holders will automatically receive the Energy Supplement quarterly. If the pension supplement minimum amount is paid fortnightly, Energy Supplement will be paid fortnightly. The quarterly Energy Supplement is generally made with the customer's income support payment on the first payday after the quarterly test dates of 20 June, 20 September, 20 December and 20 March.

FTB Grandfathered customers can update their FTB payment choice to choose how they will receive the Energy Supplement as part of their FTB entitlement.

Customers may receive Energy Supplement in respect of both their ISP and FTB payments.

FHA customers can only receive Energy Supplement fortnightly.

These payments are tax-free and are exempt income under social security and family assistance law.

Energy Supplement rates depend on the type of qualifying payment the customer receives and their circumstances. The rate is automatically determined by the system.

For customers on a manual rate, the Energy Supplement component needs to be manually identified and coded.

The Energy Supplement is added to a customer's Maximum Basic Rate before the income test is applied.

The Energy Supplement is reduced by application of the income or assets test:

• after adding any Rent Assistance (RA) entitlement
• before adding minimum Pension Supplement entitlement

Pension customers (excluding Parenting Payment Single (PPS) under Age Pension age) entitled to the minimum Pension Supplement amount after means testing will receive the maximum rate of Energy Supplement.

Recipients of FHA who are over 22 are automatically entitled to the Energy Supplement, paid at the same rate as if they were eligible for JobSeeker Payment. The rate of this supplement is not affected by an individual reaching pension age.

For information about eligibility and payment rates for CSHC customers. See Energy Supplement for Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders.

For information about eligibility and payment rates for FTB customers. See Energy Supplement for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) recipients.