We requested clarity on the Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) and Energy and Trade Intensive Industry (ETII) scheme – full details of which were published on Jan 17th – that will replace the current Energy Bills Relief Scheme (EBRS), which ends on March 31st 2023.
The outcome of the Government’s consultation with Treasury and BEIS into the replacement of the EBRS has resulted in a two tier approach.
All UK business sectors will be covered by the EBDS, while a small proportion will be covered by a more extensive support package, which are classed as an Energy and Trade Intensive Industry (ETII).
EBDS Scheme Eligibility
All UK businesses, including printers and associated trades, have access to the Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS). As per the current scheme the government will provide a discount on your gas and electricity unit prices.
Eligible non-domestic consumers will now receive a per-unit discount to their energy bills during the 12-month period from April 2023 to March 2024, subject to a maximum discount. The relative discount will be applied if wholesale prices are above a certain price threshold. For most non-domestic energy users in Great Britain and Northern Ireland these maximum discounts have been set at:
- Electricity – £19.61 per megawatt hour (MWh) with a price threshold of £302 per MWh.
- Gas – £6.97 per MWh with a price threshold of £107 per MWh
The discount is calculated as the difference between the wholesale price associated with an energy contract and the price threshold. The discount is phased in when the contract’s wholesale price exceeds the floor price, until the total discount per MWh reaches the maximum discount for that fuel.
As with the original scheme, suppliers will automatically apply reductions to your bills.
Full details of the scheme can be found at the link here.
Eligibility for EBDS
As with the original scheme, the new scheme will be available to everyone on a non-domestic contract.
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
- on variable ‘Day Ahead Index’ (DAI) tariffs (Northern Ireland scheme only)
ETII scheme eligibility
We worked in unison with other trade bodies representing our sector to feedback all the data supplied to us from the industry and campaigned for our sector as a whole to be recognised as an ETII.
The confirmation has been made though that only these following manufacturing sectors, which fall within or supply our industry, will be covered as an ETII:
- Manufacture of paper and paperboard
- Manufacture of other articles of paper and paperboard
- Manufacture of paper stationery
- Manufacture of corrugated paper and paperboard and of containers of paper and paperboard
- Manufacture of pulp
- Manufacture of dyes and pigments
- Manufacture of electronic components
- Manufacture/finishing of textiles
- Manufacture of workwear
- Manufacture of made-up textile articles, except apparel
More information on the ETII scheme support and eligibility can be found at the link here.
This discount will only apply to 70% of energy volumes. The maximum discounts and price threshold for these sectors are:
- electricity – £89 per MWh with a price threshold of £185 per MWh
- gas – £40 per MWh with a price threshold of £99 per MWh
It has been fed back by BEIS that print manufacturing was not included on the ETII list as only sector’s where energy makes up a ‘significant majority’ of the overheads of a ‘typical business’ were included on the final list – or that were deemed to be critical to supplying the public with food, shelter, clothing, energy, medicine, transport, hygiene etc.
We are continuing to work with BEIS to advocate for individual print manufacturers and associated trades – severely impacted by energy costs – receiving targeted support – so your feedback is vital.
The full list can be found at the link here.
If you would like to discuss these schemes in more detail, please feel free to call me on the number below at your convenience. It is critical that we receive your feedback on their potential impact for your business, so do get in touch as stated previously.
