Energy bill support from April 2023
As anticipated, UK Government has announced a new scheme to help businesses with energy costs after the current Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) ends on 31st March 2023.
The Energy Bill Discount Scheme (EBDS) will run for 12 months from April 2023 with a similar structure to EBRS but with a substantially lower level of discount and thresholds that, based on current market conditions, could mean that the scheme is unlikely to pay out in many cases.
As before, the discount applies only to the whoelsale cost, not the grid costs and green taxes, and the scheme is based on a floor price and a maximum discount.
Electricity
If the whoelsale cost element of your bill is over 30.2p/kWh you will be eligible for a discount to keep it at that level; subject to a maximum discount of 1.961p/kWh. At the time of writing, wholesale prices for Winter 2023 of 22p/kWh for baseload and 30p/kWh peak suggest that no discount will be payable for new fixed price contracts.
Gas
If the whoelsale cost element of your bill is over 10.7p/kWh (314p/Therm) you will be eligible for a discount to keep it at that level; subject to a maximum discount of 0.697p/kWh (20p/Therm). At the time of writing, wholesale prices for Winter 2023 are trading at 210p/Therm.
There’s a lot more help for Energy and Trade Intensive Industries, with 8.9p/kWh off electricity and 4p/kWh off gas from much lower thresholds. If you’re not sure, click here to see if your sector is on the list.
Clearly designed to soften the blow of the end of EBRS, many might be disappointed at the much lower level of support being offered under EBDS. So far, only limited detail about the new scheme is available so we’ll be watching with interest.
