How will the changes to the Energy Bills Relief Scheme affect your business?
The government has announced that the Energy Bills Discount Scheme will replace the Energy Bills Relief Scheme when it ends on 31st March 2023. The new scheme will run from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 for eligible non-domestic consumers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Whereas the current scheme caps the per-unit price that non-domestic customers pay, the new scheme will provide a per-unit discount to their energy bills above a certain threshold, subject to a maximum discount. The overall level of government support provided to businesses will be significantly lower than under the current scheme.
Eligible non-domestic consumers will now receive a unit discount of up to £6.97/MWh unit discount to their gas bill and a unit discount of up to £19.61MWh to their electricity bill during the 12-month period from April 2023 to March 2024, above a threshold level of £107/MWh for gas and £302/MWh of electricity.
The discount will be available to those:
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on existing fixed price contracts that were agreed on or after 1 December 2021;
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signing new fixed price contracts;
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on deemed / out of contract or standard variable tariffs;
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on flexible purchase or similar contracts;
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on contracts paying energy costs above a price threshold;
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on variable ‘Day Ahead Index’ (DAI) tariffs (Northern Ireland scheme only)
Companies in certain sectors which are both energy-intensive and trade-intensive will receive additional discounts on gas and electricity prices. You can find the full list of businesses eligible for this further support here.
Businesses do not need to take action or apply to the scheme to access the support; discounts will automatically be applied to bills by suppliers.