The UK government has recently published details of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) for non-domestic customers, including how voluntary sector organisations, including charities can receive support for energy costs during the winter of 2022/23.
The scheme will be available to everyone on a non-domestic contract including:
o Businesses.
o Voluntary sector organisations, such as charities, and
o Public sector organisations such as schools, hospitals and care homes
who are:
o On existing fixed price contracts that were agreed on or after 1 April 2022.
o Signing new fixed price contracts.
o On deemed/out of contract or variable tariffs, and
o On flexible purchase or similar contracts
The UK government will provide a discount on gas and electricity unit prices. To calculate your discount, the estimated wholesale portion of the unit price you would be paying this winter will be compared to a baseline “government supported price” which is lower than currently expected wholesale prices this winter.
Suppliers will apply reductions to the bills of all eligible non-domestic customers.
The support will be automatically applied to all eligible bills. Organisations do not need to take action or apply to the scheme.
The savings for energy used in October will be seen in bills for October, which would usually be received in November.
The level of support for each organisation will vary depending on type and date of contract. The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has produced a number of illustrative examples on the GOV.UK website.
The government intends to compensate suppliers for the reduction in wholesale gas and electricity unit prices that they are passing onto non-domestic customers.
Further information about the scheme, including other support available for business and non-domestic customers, can be found on the GOV.UK website.
