Energy Bill Relief Scheme: Help for businesses and other non-domestic customers
21st September 2022
Find out about the Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) for non-domestic customers and how you can get support this winter.
This scheme will provide energy bill relief for non-domestic customers in Great Britain. Discounts will be applied to energy usage initially between 1st Oct 2022 and 31st March 2023.
A similar scheme will be established in Northern Ireland, providing a comparable level of support.
The discount is automatic. If you get a message asking for your bank details, this could be a scam. You should report messages you think are suspicious.
Eligibility
The scheme will be available to everyone on a non-domestic contract including:
- Businesses
- Voluntary sector organisations, such as charities
- Public sector organisations such as schools, hospitals and care homes
Who are:
- On existing fixed price contracts that were agreed on or after 1st April 2022
- Signing new fixed price contracts
- On deemed / out of contract or variable tariffs
- On flexible purchase or similar contracts
The amount your bills will be reduced:
The government will provide a discount on your 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.
For all non-domestic energy users in Great Britain this government supported price has been set at:
- £211 per megawatt hour (MWh) for electricity
- £75 per MWh for gas
- A comparable rate will be set shortly for Northern Ireland.
For comparison, wholesale costs in England, Scotland and Wales for this winter are currently expected to be around:
- £600 per MWh for electricity
- £180 per MWh for gas
The designs of the GB scheme and the separate Northern Ireland scheme will be consistent, and will offer an equivalent level of support, but the impact on users will vary in Northern Ireland in particular since there are only limited numbers of fixed price contracts in the market.
To ensure consistency between the domestic and non-domestic schemes, the government supported price is based on the implied wholesale element of the Energy Price Guarantee for domestic customers. It will not be the same as the final per unit price paid by non-domestic customers, which will also reflect other costs such as network charges and operating costs, plus the impact of competition between suppliers.
