On 9th January the Government announced their package of support for non-domestic energy consumers, including all UK businesses and the public sector; This covers WME customers such as local authorities, charities, hospitals, blue light organisations and schools / academies.

The new scheme kicks in at a much higher level than the existing Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) and will therefore provide the most benefit to organisations who locked in contracts during the highest period of energy costs last year.

General Scheme Information

• The scheme will replace the existing Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which will end on 31^st March 2023
• The new scheme runs from 1^st April 2023 until 31^st March 2024
• The new support levels are £107/MWh for gas and £302/MWh for electricity. (The EBRS support levels were £75/MWh for gas and £211/MWh)
• Where contracts exceed the support levels, discounts will be automatically applied to bills.
• The discounts will be a maximum of £6.97/MWh for gas and £19.61/MWh for power

As well as providing support to those on very high energy contracts, the scheme provides some reassurance against the risk of prices rising again over the year.

WME do not believe that any customers currently utilising our flexible procurement baskets will benefit from the new scheme given rates procured are below the new support levels.

For further information on the Energy Bill Discount scheme, please see the link below.

The government unveils new “Energy Bills Discount Scheme” for businesses - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)