The secretary of state has warned that a cost of living payment cannot be made in Northern Ireland until an executive budget is agreed.
It comes after the Chancellor John Healey announced the £100 payment for households in England, based on how much council tax they pay.
Delivering his first Budget, Healey said money would be made available to Stormont to fund an equivalent scheme.
However Sir Chris Bryant said Stormont would not be in a legal position to deliver the money without a budget.
Seven months into the financial year the Northern Ireland Executive has still not agreed a budget.
Stormont ministers say the UK’s devolution funding formula no longer delivers enough for them to produce a balanced budget.
Sir Chris has offered them an additional £525m this year but they said it is still inadequate.
Stormont ministers will have to agree a budget if they want to access the funds announced at the UK budget, but it is up to them if they wish to use that money for such an energy scheme.
Finance Minister John O’Dowd indicated his preference would be to fund an equivalent scheme, which would cost just under £90m.
The administrations in Scotland and Wales have said they intend to implement their own schemes.
Northern Ireland does not have council tax so another mechanism will have to be used to identify who gets the payment.
Stormont officials have recent experience of designing similar payments, such as the home heating oil voucher scheme.
Overall, Northern Ireland will get an additional £270m for public services as a result of the Budget, of which £131m can be used this year.
