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New Energy Bills Discount Scheme slammed as ‘death slide’ for independent retailers
BUSINESS CHIEFS have con- demned the Government’s new Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) for businesses that comes into effect on April 1. The scheme – which will run until March 31, 2024 – replaces the current Energy Bill Relief Scheme that was introduced on October 1, 2022, and which comes to an end on March 31. Chancellor Jeremey Hunt said that he wanted to avoid a ‘cliff edge’ when the old scheme came to an end but warned that “continuing the current level of assistance for firms would be ‘unsustainably expensive’”.
Retailers are among the businesses eligible for support, as are most manu- facturing industries in the KBB sector. Suppliers will automatically apply the reduction of bills to all eligible users. British Independent Retailers Asso- ciation CEO Andrew Goodacre has slammed the move, saying the Chan- cellor “has replaced a cliff edge with a death slide for independent retailers”. The new scheme provides the following support for businesses: Eligible non-domestic consumers will now receive a per-unit discount to their energy bills during the 12-month period from April 2023 to March 2024, subject to a maximum discount. For most non-domestic energy users these maximum discounts have been set at: • Electricity: £19.61 per MWh with a price threshold of £302 per MWh. • Gas: £6.97 per MWh with a price threshold of £107 per MWh. The previous scheme was more generous in its support and offered: • Electricity: £211 per MWh / 21.1p per kWh.
• Gas: £75 per MWh / 7.5p per kWh The new scheme also recognises
February 2023 ·
that some users are particularly vulnerable to energy prices because of the nature of their operations. These, referred to as Energy and Trade Intensive Industries (see full list on Gov. uk, search EBDS), will receive a higher level of support, namely:
• Electricity: £89 per MWh with a price threshold of £185 per MWh • Gas: £40 per MWh with a price threshold of £99 per MWh.
For a small retail shop, under the new scheme, they will receive up to £403 in the 2023/24 financial year. Under the old scheme, they would have received a 40% reduction on their monthly bills.
For a medium-sized manufacturing company, EBDS provides support of up to £687,120 for FY23/24. Previous- ly that would have been £2.58 million. Bira CEO Andrew Goodacre com - mented: “Last year we saw energy bills for indie retailers increasing by 500% – £15,000 to £20,000 – more than usual. These businesses will now have another £6,000 per annum of costs to deal with, at a time when consumer spending has fallen and other costs are set to increase.” Tom Reynolds, CEO of the Bathroom
Manu facturers Association, said: “The tapering of support for energy costs shows why it is so important for manufacturers to be as energy- efficient as possible, and why BMA members have been focusing so heavily on that transition. It’s no longer about investing in green for your brand, it’s about business viability.
“For some manufacturers, particularly those with the most energy intensive processes that are harder to adapt, the EBDS will be even more disappointing and disheartening.”
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