Energy Bill Discount Scheme (EBDS) and Energy & Trade Intensive Industries (ETII)

Date: May 4, 2023

Energy Bill Discount Scheme (EBDS) and Energy & Trade Intensive Industries (ETII)

The Government announced in January 2023 that the new scheme, Energy Bill Discount Scheme (EBDS) will replace the Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS), from the 1^st April 2023. The scheme is designed to support UK businesses and non-domestic energy users including charities and the public sector.

Included in this announcement was a higher level of support for those businesses requiring more substantial discounts, this is the Energy & Trade Intensive Industries (ETII),

What is EBDS?

The EBDS replaced the EBRS as of the 1^st April 2023 with every non-domestic consumer in the UK being eligible for this support, providing the amount they are paying for their commodity is above the prices below.

Electricity – £302/MWh

Gas – £107/MWh (314p/th)

The support does have a maximum support limit of £19.61/MWh for electricity and £6.97/MWh
(20 p/th) for gas.

The discount is calculated as the difference between the wholesale price associated with an energy contract and the price threshold.

EBDS will be automatically applied by the supplier, and there is nothing for end consumers to do.

What is ETII

ETII scheme is a scheme for additional support, primarily targeting non-domestic customer operating in energy intensive sectors.

Who qualifies for support

You must have a non-domestic contract with a licensed supplier and be:

• On existing fixed price contracts that were agreed on or after the 1^st December 2021
• On deemed/ out of contract or variable tariffs
• On flexible purchase (or similar) contracts
• Signing new fixed price contracts (not applicable to TEC members)
• On variable ‘Day ahead index’ (DAI) tariffs (Northern Ireland Scheme only) (Not applicable to TEC members)

Note that your organisation should be able to prove that at least 50% of its revenue is being generated from UK-based activity and is within one of the eligible sectors. Eligibility for local authorities will be determined at a premise level and where there are no relevant accounts, they will be required to declare that at least 50% of the space is taken up by operations within an eligible sector.

 What discount do qualifying consumers get

If applicable customers will see discounts that reflects the difference between the price threshold (detailed below) and the wholesale price.

Electricity – £185/MWh

Gas – £99/MWh (290p/th)

The discount will only apply to 70% of energy volumes and will be subject to a maximum discount of  £89/MWh for electricity £40/MWh (117p/th) for gas. The remaining 30% will be covered by the baseline of support (EBDS) if those thresholds are met, or charged at the existing commodity rate.

 How to apply

Applications opened on the 26^th April 2023 and are open for 90 days from then to apply. The link below will take you to the portal.

ETII Portal

 In order to complete the application you will need the following information.

• Contact details of the applicant (including email address and phone number)
• Registered name and address of the organisation or business
• Company registration number (CRN) if the organisation has one
• Up to 4 ETII eligible standard industrial classification (SIC) codes that relate to your organisation’s activities – see the list of eligible sector SIC codes
• Energy supplier names and the gas or electricity meter point numbers (MPRN or MPAN) associated with the property, found on bills from your energy suppliers
• If you have more than 10 meter point numbers per supplier, a template has been provided for you to record your meter point numbers
• The name of your organisation as it appears on your bill from your energy suppliers
• Details of any intermediary providers such as landlords if you don’t pay energy suppliers directly

 The evidence required for the application

Signed director’s declarations letter                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      You will need to provide a letter signed by a named director or equivalent of your organisation or business. You should use the template provided, which sets out what must be included in your letter.

Additional financial evidence                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    You may also need to provide further information if your business or organisation was not registered at Companies House with an eligible SIC code in December 2022.

This evidence is:

• Your most recent full set of end-of-year accounts – if you do not have these, upload evidence of your most recent company accounts, covering a minimum period of the most recent 6 months
• An Income Statement referring to the same time period as the accounts
• A sample of 20 sales invoices, no older than 12 months from the date of the signed declaration, which demonstrates activity that falls within an eligible sector
• License or trade body membership details for regulated industries (if applicable)
• Any additional evidence you want to support your application

To help with the processing of your application, you could also upload a letter signed by an external auditor or chartered accountant. This should confirm that you are in an eligible sector, and that 50% or more of your revenue generated from Great Britain and Northern Ireland are in an eligible sector. A template for the accountant’s report is available.

Local Authorities (including libraries)

Local authority applicants who cannot provide the financial evidence should upload floor plans of the relevant property, with accompanying measurements in square meters. This should show that 50% or more of your activities are in an eligible sector.

The government has setup a customer support team that you can contact with any queries regarding ETII eligibility:

Email: support@ebds.beis.gov.uk

Telephone: 0300 400 5251

Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm

The window is only open for 90 days, so please act quickly.

If you have any further questions please contact your MSA.