Customers in Northern Ireland will have to wait and see how the decision to cut VAT on electricity bills impacts themSome 855,000 households in Northern Ireland will again be forced to wait and see how prime minister Andy Burnham’s decision to remove VAT from electricity bills from October will impact them. But because Northern Ireland operates on a completely different electricity market, with its own regulations, pricing mechanisms, regulators, and grid arrangements, domestic customers are unlikely to see the benefit straight away. That’s because, under the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU, there are still some VAT rates applying specifically in Northern Ireland which were supposed to have been dealt with by the Windsor Framework, but are still unresolved. Before the Windsor Framework, Northern Ireland remained bound by EU VAT rules for goods, which prevented the UK Government from applying a zero-rate of VAT to certain products. Andy Burnham has announced a VAT cut on electricity bills (Ben Birchall/PA)In effect, it means Northern Ireland cannot mirror the GB VAT change directly until the EU agrees.