The government unveils new 'Energy Bills Discount Scheme' for businesses
13th January 2023
The Government announced a new energy support scheme for businesses, charities, and the public sector to replace the current Energy Bills Support Scheme that ends on 31st March 2023. The revised scheme, Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS), will support businesses over the next 12 months with a cap set at £5.5 billion, based on estimated volumes, and will run from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
As with the original scheme, the new scheme will be available to everyone on a non-domestic contract and users will receive a per-unit discount on their energy bills subject to a maximum discount.
For most non-domestic energy users in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, these maximum discounts have been set at:
• Electricity - £19.61 per megawatt-hour (MWh) with a price threshold of £302 per MWh.
• Gas - £6.97 per MWh with a price threshold of £107 per MWh.
Click here to read the Government announcement.
A separate category of support will be provided under the Energy and Trade Intensive Industries (“ETII”):
• These businesses will receive a discount reflecting the difference between a price threshold and the relevant wholesale price.
• The price threshold for the scheme will be £99/MWh for gas and £185/MWh for electricity.
• This discount will only apply to 70% of energy volumes and will be subject to a ‘maximum discount’ of £40.0/MWh for gas and £89.1/MWh for electricity.
The list of eligible sectors is available here, and there are a number relevant to Tourism
• Library and archive activities
• Museum activities
• Operation of historical sites and buildings and similar visitor attractions
• Botanical and zoological gardens and nature reserve activities
The application process for ETII support has not yet been announced and we will keep you updated when further information becomes available.
Further information on the scheme can be found on the EBDS page on gov.uk.
