Over 80,000 new households are to qualify for fuel allowance, Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys has announced.
A new online application system and means test for over-70s is being introduced under an expansion of the scheme.
The new measures mean that a single person over 70 can have an income of €500 per week and a couple can have a weekly income of €1,000.
People over 70 will no longer need to be in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment to be eligible for fuel allowance.
Where just one person in a couple is over 70, they will be assessed under the over-70s means test criteria.
The limit for the amount of savings a recipient over 70 can have has also been doubled, with the first €50,000 in savings and investments now being disregarded in the means test.
Ms Humphreys said, "As minister, the one thing I do not want to see is any old person afraid to turn on their heating.
"Our senior citizens have worked hard all their lives; they have put in their shift and I want to make sure they can live in comfort."
The new system is now online and the changes will be introduced on 2 January 2023.
Also from that date, the weekly means threshold for those under 70 will be increased by €80 per week.
While payments from Disablement Benefit and half-rate carers payments will no longer be included in the means assessment for fuel allowance for all applicants regardless of age.
