More than 25,000 people in Hume will soon be getting one-off payments of up to $75 to help with energy costs following the passage of legislation in the Senate.

Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor said The Energy Assistance Payment will be provided to people on the Age Pension, Disability Support Pension and Parenting Payment Single, as well as Veterans and their partners who receive the Service Pension, Income Support Supplement and relevant compensation payments.

An estimated 25,393 people in Hume will benefit from this measure including:

• 17,030 recipients of the Age Pension
• 4965 recipients of the Disability Support Pension
• 2021 recipients of Parenting Payment Single
• 1377 recipients of veteran’s payments

“The one-off payment is $75 for singles and $62.50 for each pensioner in a couple. It will be automatically paid to eligible recipients over the next two weeks,” Mr Taylor said.

“This one-off payment was part of a package to secure significant reform through the Senate to reduce company tax rates to businesses with a turnover of up to $50 million.

“In securing the passage of the company tax cuts, which will help more than 3.2 million small and medium sized businesses – including more than 15,000 in Hume - to invest more and employ extra staff, the Government also committed to these one-off payments.”

The payment will not be taxed, will not be treated as income for tax purposes and does not count as income for social security purposes.

More than 3.8 million people nationally will benefit from the one-off payment.

“These payments, at a total cost of $269 million, recognise that many welfare recipients have a limited ability to earn additional income to help them meet living costs,” Mr Taylor said.

Further information is available at: www.humanservices.gov.au/energyassist