Today it has been announced, as expected, that there will be support for businesses with rising energy costs and the further forecasted increases to those costs.
The Government Energy Bill Relief Scheme will provide a discount on wholesale gas and electricity prices for all non-domestic customers, equivalent to the Energy Price Guarantee put in place for households.
This scheme will benefit non-domestic energy customers which includes businesses, charities and public sector organisations.
It will apply to fixed contracts agreed on or after 1 April 2022, as well as to deemed, variable and flexible tariffs and contracts. The relief is scheduled to run from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023 and this relief will automatically be applied to bills so there is no action that necessarily needs to be taken.
In more detail, the Government has set a Supported Wholesale Price – expected to be £211 per MWh for electricity and £75 per MWh for gas, less than half the wholesale prices anticipated this winter. To be clear this is a discounted price per unit of gas and electricity, so the larger the consumption the greater the cost will be, albeit the unit cost is capped.
Clearly this will be of benefit to several organisations. Hospitals, Schools and the Charity sector were very worried about the winter ahead, as was the pub and hospitality sector following a challenging period affected (and continuing to be affected by) Covid. This will no doubt make a difference and is welcome, albeit it will not solve other issues faced such as the current and forecast levels of inflation.
Rob Case Tax Partner, or a member of his team, will be happy to have a chat if anything needs clarification – please call 01242 776000 or email Tax@randall-payne.co.uk.
