Aodhan Connolly of NIRC said BIDs in England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland "have made a huge positive impact" on business in town centres.
The British Retail Consortium's Aodhan Connolly said that, while his organisation did believe the tax would have an impact "our line would be that there are bigger environmental fish out there to fry".
Aodhan O'Donnell, Senior Manager for Public Health at the Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland (HPA), said fuel poverty was a very serious issue although the term was not widely known or used.