Energy Assistance Payment (EAP) 101-17061500

2017 Energy Assistance Payment

To be eligible for the one-off EAP payment, as of the test date 20 June 2017 recipients must have been:

• residing in Australia
• receiving a rate greater than nil of:
• Age Pension (including Age Pension Blind)
• Disability Support Pension (DSP) (including DSP Blind), or
• Parenting Payment (Single)

Recipients on a short term absence from Australia, who were in receipt of an eligible payment as at 20 June 2017, automatically received this payment.

Recipients who were not residing in Australia on 20 June 2017 are not eligible for the EAP.

2019 Energy Assistance Payment

To be eligible for the one-off 2019 EAP payment, as of the test date 2 April 2019 recipients must have been:

• residing in Australia
• receiving a rate greater than nil of:
• Age Pension (Age) (including Age Pension (Blind))
• Disability Support Pension (DSP) (including Disability Support Pension (Blind))
• Carer Payment (CP)
• Parenting Payment (Single and Partnered)
• ABSTUDY Living Allowance
• Austudy
• Newstart Allowance
• Youth Allowance
• Widow Allowance
• Special Benefit
• Wife Pension
• Widow B Pension
• Sickness Allowance
• Partner Allowance
• Double Orphan Pension
• Farm Household Allowance

Recipients on a short term absence from Australia, who were in receipt of an eligible payment as at 2 April 2019, automatically received this payment.

Recipients who were not residing in Australia on 2 April 2019 are not eligible for the EAP.

Eligible recipients of the following Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) payments receive both the 2017 and 2019 EAP:

• Service Pension
• Income Support Supplement
• relevant compensation payments, including:
• Disability Pension and War Widow(er)'s Pension under the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986
• Special Rate Disability Pension or Wholly Dependent Partner payments under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004
• Permanent Impairment compensation under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988

In 2017 the EAP was paid to eligible DVA recipients on 3 July 2017. In 2019, the EAP were paid to eligible DVA recipients from 14 June 2019.

Subsequent payments were made after a check between Services Australia and Department of Veterans' Affairs, to ensure recipients do not receive more than 1 EAP.

The amount of the one-off payment for both 2017 and 2019 is:

• $75 for eligible single recipients
• $62.50 for each eligible member of a couple
• $75 for each eligible member of an illness separated, respite care or partner in gaol couple

2017 payments were made the week commencing 26 June 2017. 2019 payments were made from 14 June 2019.

When the EAP was issued, notification was sent to the recipient advising:

• of their eligibility for the payment, and
• the payment being paid into the same bank account as the recipient's regular fortnightly income support payment

The one-off EAP is paid to recipients who made a claim for an eligible payment on or before the relevant test date, where the claim is granted after the test date and back dated to this day or earlier.

Recipients of eligible payments, who received a nil rate of payment for the period including relevant test date, and are subsequently reassessed and receive payment for that period, are eligible for the one-off EAP.

Recipients who received the partnered rate of EAP and are later reassessed as being single as at the relevant test date will receive a top-up payment of $12.50.

A recipient will be paid the one-off EAP if their eligible payment was suspended or cancelled on the relevant test date and:

• their payment is subsequently restored on or before the relevant test date
• an amount for the period that includes the relevant test date is payable
• they are otherwise eligible

Debts will not be raised for the EAP if a recipient is subsequently assessed as not being eligible on the relevant test date.

The EAP will be raised as a debt in fraudulent circumstances.

The EAP will not be withheld to recover existing debts.

Eligible recipients of Farm Household Allowance (FHA) will receive the 2019 EAP from 25 June 2019. If claims for FHA are granted after 22 June 2019 and backdated to 2 April 2019 or earlier, ICT will pay any EAP that is owing at the beginning of each calendar month. This will be an automated process and Service Officers will not need to or be able to make any manual payments or send any manual letters. Service Officers do not need to report these cases to ICT. Service Officers are able view the 2019 EAP for FHA recipients within Customer First via the ‘Payment list’ option.

Service Officers can check if the EAP has been paid via the:

• Payment Summary (PS) screen
• Payment Details (PD) screen, or
• Generic One Time Payment screens (only accessible in Customer First, not in Customer Record or Mainframe):
• OTPMM screen - One Time Payment Main Menu. Select 'EAP' from the drop down menu
• OTPSUM screen - One Time Payment Summary. This screen will also identify if the Energy Assistance Payment has not been paid by Services Australia as it has already been paid by the Department of Veterans' Affairs
• OTPDTL screen - One Time Payment Details Explanation screen

Note: Service Officers are able to view the 2019 EAP for FHA recipients within Customer First via the ‘Payment list’ option.

The 2017 EAP was automatically paid to eligible recipients until 30 June 2018. EAP could also be paid manually via the One Off Payments (OOP) screen until 30 June 2018. From 1 July 2018 EAP can only be manually paid via the Payment Adjustment (PYAJ) screen.

The 2019 EAP will automatically be paid to eligible recipients until 30 June 2020. EAP can also be paid manually via the One Off Payments (OOP) screen until 30 June 2020. From 1 July 2020 EAP can only be manually paid via the Payment Adjustment (PYAJ) screen.