The government have announced an update to the EBDS scheme which initally provided support to businesses with their energy bills between 1 October 2022 and 31 March 2023. The new EBDS scheme will provide a lower level of support than the original, providing a baseline discount for qualifying businesses which will be applied automatically at source if the wholesale price of energy exceeds a certain threshold. 

The EBDS will be established in regulations made under the Energy Prices Act 2022. The regulations are expected to come into force in late April 2023 and the scheme will not be finalised until then. The discount will apply to bills from 1 April 2023. However, most eligible non-domestic customers receiving the baseline discount should expect to see it in their May bill.

There is an extra level of support to Energy and Trade Intensive Industries (ETII) - the categories for which are very specific. To see if your business is eligible you can see a SIC list of qualifying sectors click here.

The government have stated that applications will begin in April 23 (at the time of writing there is no live application link listed), and eligible organisations will have 90 days from the scheme introduction date of 26 April to apply for the higher support - so be mindful not to miss out on the application process if you feel your business may qualify.  New organisations, or newly eligible organisations will have 90 days to apply from the date at which they become eligible.

Interestingly, the government have made provision for cases where a single meter serves an office block or industrial estate where not all of the non-domestic customers operating from that site are eligible. In these cases, where there is one or more intermediary provider between the supplier and the ETII customer, then the ETII customer will be required to provide details of their ETII eligibility certificate to their energy providers. The provider with responsibility for the contract will be required to notify DESNZ, using the contact information below. They will be required to provide details of the specific meter points and proportion of consumption that are eligible for ETII support.

A template has been provided to record your meter point numbers. This can also be used when applying if you have more than 10 meter point numbers per supplier.

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Visit the Gov.UK website for more information