Energy Bill Discount Scheme Update

Energy News 26th January 2023

For many businesses across the UK the soar in energy prices has had huge impact. Last year the Government introduced the Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS), this scheme is now coming to an end in March.

However, the UK Government has recently announced a new scheme, Energy Bill Discount Scheme [EBDS], for businesses and non-domestic users which will run from the 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024.

What is the EBDS?

The EBDS will provide extended support and protection to businesses and non-domestic users from high and volatile prices. However, this will be at a lower level than the current EBRS scheme.

The new scheme will apply to wholesale commodity costs and apply an automatic discount to bills of up to £19.61/MWh (1.961p/kWh) for electric and £6.97/MWh (0.697p/kWh) for gas if wholesale commodity costs exceed the set thresholds of £302/MWh (30.2p/kWh) and £107/MWh (10.7p/kWh) for electric and gas respectively.

For more information on how the scheme is going to work and what to expect please visit – Energy Bills Discount Scheme – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

For those of you who are in intensive energy industries, i.e., libraries, museums and historical sites/buildings, increased support is available. The applied discount for those industries will be the difference between the wholesale commodity costs and the set thresholds of £185/MWh (18.5p/kWh) for electric and £99/MWh (9.9p/kWh) for gas, up to a maximum discount of £89.1/MWh (8.91p/kWh) for electric and £40/MWh (4p/kWh) for gas.

It’s important to note that those in intensive energy industries will only have the available discount applied to 70% of their usage.

We are working closely with our suppliers to clarify how the scheme will be put into practice and will share any updates with our customers as much as we can. If you would like to talk to us about the scheme in more detail for your current contracts, please reach out to our team.