Care home providers across the UK could receive a discount on their energy bills under a new scheme.
The Energy Bills Discount Scheme is available to businesses, charities and the public sector.
It succeeds the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which offers a discount on wholesale gas and electricity prices for all non-domestic consumers. This ceases in March 2023.
This new scheme will mean all eligible UK businesses and other non-domestic energy users will receive a discount on high energy bills from April 2023 until 31 March 2024.
The initiative unveiled by the government has a cap set at £5.5bn. No further details on this figure are given.
Are you eligible for the Energy Bills Discount Scheme?
As with the original scheme, the new 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 1 December 2021
- Signing new fixed price contracts
- On deemed/out of contract or standard variable tariffs
- On flexible purchase or similar contracts
How will it work?
For eligible non-domestic customers who have a contract with a licensed energy supplier, the government is announcing the following support:
- From 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, all eligible non-domestic customers who have a contract with a licensed energy supplier will see a unit discount of up to £6.97/MWh automatically applied to their gas bill and a unit discount of up to £19.61/MWh applied to their electricity bill
- This will be subject to a wholesale price threshold, set with reference to the support provided for domestic consumers, of £107/MWh for gas and £302/MWh for electricity. This means that businesses experiencing energy costs below this level will not receive support
- Customers do not need to apply for their discount. As with the current scheme, suppliers will automatically apply reductions to the bills of all eligible non-domestic customers
Further information
Read the guidance on the Energy Bills Discount Scheme – GOV.UK
