How pubs can access Energy Relief Scheme

23-Sep-2022 - Last updated on 23-Sep-2022 at 09:57 GMT

Energy Relief Scheme: discount to be applied directly onto bills (Credit: Getty/Constantine Johnny)

Related tags Legislation Energy costs Finance Government

With support for businesses in tackling energy costs announced earlier this week, the Morning Advertiser has broken down exactly what this means for pubs and how to access the Energy Relief Scheme, as well as a handy calculator to estimate how much you could save.

What is the Energy Support Relief Scheme?

Announced by Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg on Wednesday 21 September, the Energy Support Relief Scheme is an energy usage discount, put in place to help cut energy costs for businesses.

This means from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023, there will be a discount on wholesale gas and electricity prices for all non-domestic customers such as pubs.

Savings are expected to come into force from October’s bills, which are usually received in November.

How much will businesses save?

The level of price reduction for each business will vary depending on contract type and individual circumstances.

However, to calculate the discount, the estimated wholesale portion of the unit price businesses would be paying this winter are compared to a baseline ‘Government supported price’, which is lower than currently expected wholesale prices this winter.

The Government supported price is based on the implied wholesale element of the Energy Price Guarantee for domestic customers.

However, the final unit price paid by non-domestic customers will also reflect other costs such as network charges and operating costs, plus the impact of competition between suppliers.

For all non-domestic energy users, the Government supported price has been set at £211 per megawatt hour (MWh) for electricity and £75 per MWh for gas.

Struggling to get your head around the discount? Fear not, we've created a handy business energy bill relief scheme calculator to help you estimate your bills.

Who is eligible?

The discount applies to fixed contracts agreed on or after 1 April 2022 as well as deemed, variable and flexible tariffs and contracts. The Government will publish the wholesale prices it will use for calculating the discount for each day from 1 April 2022.

How do pubs access the scheme?

As with the Energy Price Guarantee for households, businesses do not need to apply to the scheme to access the support as it will automatically be applied to bills in pence per kilowatt hour (p/kWh).

The support for comparable contracts will be the same across suppliers, but the level of individual bills will vary across different contracts and tariffs.

For fixed contracts the discount will reflect the difference between the Government supported price and the relevant wholesale price for the day the contract was agreed.

In the case of variable, deemed and all other contracts, the discount will reflect the difference between the Government supported price and relevant wholesale price, subject to a ‘maximum discount’ determined at the beginning of the scheme.

Businesses on variable or flexible contracts will need to choose if they move to fixed contracts. This is likely to suit you if you don’t want to be exposed to price variation, however, you will be contacted by your supplier.