The government has published details of the relief scheme for energy bills, which gives more detail on the likely value of the energy support package. It includes the daily discount rates available for business and other non-domestic energy users who are on both fixed and default/variable contracts with their energy supplier. You can find the details at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-bill-relief-scheme-discounts-for-fixed-default-and-variable-contracts. The Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) applies to energy use by all non-domestic energy users from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. It also now applies retrospectively to any agreed fixed price contract/tariff taken out after 1 December 2021 (if the wholesale element of the price is above the government supported price).
The Government aims to publish a review of the EBRS 3 months after launch to inform decisions on any continued support after March 2023. This review will also consider future forecasts of energy prices. The growth plan was clear in saying continued support would be targeted at vulnerable businesses and organisations and the announcement specifically identified large businesses that are not energy-intensive may be considered less vulnerable.
The link below takes you to an on-line questionnaire that BEIS has set-up for businesses. This asks a set of relatively short questions asking businesses to identify their registration and SIC codes (to identify industry sector) and questions on energy usage and impacts of price rises. The department is specifically looking for responses from SME companies but we would encourage all members to participate – the wider evidence base that BEIS can gather, the more likely it will be that the manufacturing sector will be considered for support.
For companies, the link to complete the questionnaire is: https://beis.fra1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cTob3uhBoMiwgOW; the questionnaire will close at 23.55hrs on Monday 24th October.