Energy Supplement 101-03090000

ISP customers

In Customer First, view calculation details on the Energy Supplement Explanation Summary (CESSUM) page.

Select Payments & Services > Energy Payments > Energy Supplement summary from the menu or go directly to the CESSUM page.

To check payment details

• Go to the Payments Summary (PS) screen
• Select the customer's regular payment to view the Payment Details (PD) screen. The Energy Supplement component is displayed as CES

To view payment history

View the PS screen or Rate Explanation (REX) screen for the customer's regular payment.

ISP customers

Customers will be automatically paid the Energy Supplement if they are:

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

The Energy Supplement is added to the customer's maximum basic rate of qualifying ISP.

A customer on nil rate is only eligible for the Energy Supplement if their rate is nil solely because they have received an advance of Pharmaceutical Allowance, Community Development Employment Project Participant Supplement (CPS) or Defence Force Income Support Allowance (DFISA), or elected to receive the Energy Supplement quarterly.

A customer's eligibility for the Energy Supplement is automatically assessed at the time of processing:

• a claim for an ISP
• restoration of their ISP
• return to Australia after a temporary absence of 6 weeks or longer
• a change in circumstance that results in them becoming entitled to greater than nil rate of ISP

The Energy Supplement will be paid with the customer's first or next regular payment by default. See Item 4.

Customers can continue to receive the Energy Supplement for up to 6 weeks only while temporarily absent from Australia, even if an extension of portability is granted beyond 6 weeks.

The Energy Supplement is not payable if a customer is permanently leaving Australia.

Energy Supplement entitlement is automatically reassessed upon recording overseas absence details for the customer's regular payment. See Portability of payments.

Energy Supplement payment frequency table.

Weekly/fortnightly income support payment customers (not receiving Pension Supplement)

By default, customers are paid the Energy Supplement with their regular payment. They can elect to receive the Energy Supplement quarterly in arrears. They can change the payment frequency at any time.

Pension Supplement customers

The payment frequency of Energy Supplement aligns with the payment frequency of Pension Supplement Minimum Amount. Customers can change the frequency of their minimum Pension Supplement meaning they will receive the Energy Supplement with their Pension Supplement (fortnightly or quarterly).

Recording change payment frequency request

Select the Change Payment Frequency option on the CESSUM page in Customer First:

• Energy Supplement, or
• Pension Supplement Minimum & Energy Supplement

Date of effect

For the changed Energy Supplement payment frequency to take effect from the date of notification, code the notification date as the Effect Date on the RPF screen.

However, if the customer's Energy Supplement DPT is later than the notification date, the date of effect of the new payment frequency will be Date Paid to plus 1. This can happen if processing the payment frequency change request is delayed to the next payment period or if a customer has a future DPT as a result of the holiday processing.

Result

If changing from:

• fortnightly to quarterly, their next Energy Supplement will be paid quarterly but will be reduced by any supplements they have already received for the current quarter
• quarterly to fortnightly, this takes effect from the date of notification. Any Energy Supplement arrears for the days in the quarter up to the date of notification are paid with the customer's next regular fortnightly payment

ABSTUDY Masters and Doctorate customers

Customers can only receive the Energy Supplement quarterly in arrears.

Farm Household Allowance Payment customers

Customers can only receive the Energy Supplement fortnightly.

The following customers are paid the Energy Supplement quarterly in arrears:

• Customers who have elected to receive their Pension Supplement quarterly
• CSHC holders
• ABSTUDY Masters and Doctorate customers
• Customers who have elected to receive Energy Supplement quarterly

Quarterly payment dates

The Energy Supplement will be paid as soon as possible after 20 June, 20 September, 20 December and 20 March of each year.

Daily accrual

Energy Supplement accrues daily up until the quarterly payment is due. As the Energy Supplement is calculated on a daily rate, the amount of each quarterly payment will vary depending on the number of days in the quarter.

If payment is cancelled during quarter

Energy Supplement entitlement ceases from the date of cancellation of the qualifying payment. The customer is entitled to payment of the quarterly Energy Supplement for the days in the quarter up to the date of cancellation.

Energy Supplement arrears are paid with any arrears of the regular payment, or immediately if no regular payment arrears are payable.

The amount of the Energy Supplement is automatically calculated and depends on:

• the type of qualifying payment the customer receives, and
• their circumstances

The Energy Supplement is added to the customer's maximum basic rate before means testing.

For maximum rates, see Rates and thresholds.

Changes in rate

If a customer becomes eligible for a different rate of payment, for example, they reach Age Pension age, become the principal carer of a child, or change their relationship status, their Energy Supplement is automatically reassessed from the relevant date.

Arrears

Customers can receive Energy Supplement arrears, for example when backdating a claim, restoring or reassessing their income support payment, or when a customer changes their supplement frequency from quarterly to fortnightly.

See the Resources page for examples of rate calculations.

Indexation

The Energy Supplement is not indexed.

Income reduction under the income test will reduce the basic rate of payment to nil, and then the remaining components in the order outlined below.

Income test order

• Basic rate (plus any add-ons, including Youth Disability Supplement, other than those below)
• Pension Supplement basic amount
• Pension Supplement between basic and minimum amounts ('remaining portion')
• Rent Assistance
• Energy Supplement
• Pension Supplement minimum amount
• Pharmaceutical Allowance

If the Pension Supplement minimum amount is payable, the full Energy Supplement is automatically payable.

See the Resources page for examples of rate calculations.

When manually calculating a non-standard rate of income support payment, Energy Supplement must be added to the customer's basic rate of payment to determine the maximum rate payable.

The Energy Supplement should be coded as a separate component (CES) on the relevant manual rate screen.

For information about paying Energy Supplement for CSHC holders, see Quarterly Supplement.

See the relevant procedure:

• NSS system coding for manual rate of payment
• Non NSS systems coding for manual rate of payment
• ABSTUDY system coding for manual rate of payment
• How to manually calculate arrears

Service Officers will be alerted to check if a manual rate is applicable and to code or update the Energy Supplement (CES) component when:

• coding a new claim where an open-ended manual rate exists (a warning will display)
• coding or changing a manual rate (a warning will display)
• a manual rate manual follow-up CPI review or other change of circumstance review is due

See the Resources page for example rate calculations.

• For pension payments (excluding Parenting Payment Single (PPS), the Energy Supplement is not included in calculating any advance of primary payment
• For PPS and Allowance payments, existing rules for calculating an advance are used to determine the maximum amount of advance payment available. Therefore, in calculating a customer's advance amount (which is based on the customer's rate for the fortnight prior to grant of advance), this may include an Energy Supplement as it is a component of a customer's rate of payment

The Energy Supplement can be included in Centrepay and Rent Deduction Scheme deductions.

The Energy Supplement will only be a compensation affected payment only if the underlying qualifying payment is a compensation affected payment.

For customers with a:

• fortnightly Energy Supplement frequency, the Energy Supplement is included in compliance penalty calculations
• quarterly Energy Supplement frequency, the Energy Supplement is not included in the compliance penalty calculations

The Energy Supplement is recoverable and can be used to recover overpayments.

See the relevant debt raising and debt recovery procedures relevant for the customer's payment:

• Specific cause of debt raising
• Raising debts for students and Australian Apprentices
• Raising Pension Supplement and Seniors Supplement Payment (SSP) debts
• Debt recovery for Centrelink

The Energy Supplement is income managed in line with a customer's existing Income Management arrangements.

Income managed customers who choose to receive the Energy Supplement quarterly will have 100% of their Energy Supplement income managed.

The Energy Supplement is included in the LBP calculations for both the previous combined member of a couple rate and the survivor's new single rate.

As the Energy Supplement is a component of a customer's regular payment, a review of their Energy Supplement entitlement will be included in any review of a decision relating to their income support or Seniors Supplement entitlement under social security law.

See Initial contact about a decision and the review of decision process.

Accrued Energy Supplement entitlement can be included in the issues of urgent payments to a customer.