Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS)
for Non-Domestic Customers
A new Government support scheme is available for non-domestic energy customers.
This scheme replaces the Energy Bill Relief Scheme and will run from 01 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
The scheme is made up of 3 different parts:
1. The baseline discount will provide some support with energy bills for eligible non-domestic customers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland – this support will be applied automatically.
2. The Energy and Trade Intensive Industries (ETII) discount will provide a higher level of support to businesses and organisations in eligible sectors – please note the application window closed on 25 July 2023.
3. The Heat Network discount will provide a higher level of support to heat networks with domestic end consumers – you need to register to get this support.
The Energy Bill Discount Scheme will be established in regulations made under the Energy Prices Act 2022.
We encourage customers to visit the Government’s webpage for more information and to keep up to date with any changes:
Eligibility for the EBDS baseline discount
The scheme will be available to BES customers who are:
- Businesses
- Voluntary sector organisations, such as charities
- Public sector organisations such as schools, hospitals and care homes
Providing they are:
- On existing fixed price contracts that were agreed on or after 01 December 2021
- Signing new fixed price contract
- On deemed/out of contract or variable tariffs, or on our electricity Market Tracker
product
How the baseline discount is applied...
Eligible non-domestic customers will receive a per-unit discount to their energy bills during the 12-month period from April 2023 to March 2024.This is subject to a maximum discount.
The relative discount below will be applied if wholesale prices are above a certain price threshold. For most nondomestic energy users in Great Britain and Northern Ireland these threshold prices and maximum discounts have been set at:
- Electricity – £19.61 per megawatt hour (MWh) (1.961 pence per kWh) with a price threshold of £302 per MWh (30.2 pence per kWh).
- Gas – £6.97 per megawatt hour (MWh) (0.697 pence per kWh) a price threshold of £107 per MWh (10.7 pence per kWh).
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.
The discount is only applied to the wholesale element of the bill and therefore the final per unit price paid by nondomestic customers will differ as it includes other costs such as network charges and operating costs.
The Energy and Trade Intensive Industries (ETII) discount:
A higher level of support will be provided to non-domestic customers in the sectors published here due to their Energy and Trade Intensive nature. Applicants must have applied to receive this higher-level support through the Government’s application process before 25 July 2023.
To be eligible for the higher level of support you must meet the following criteria:
- Be on a non-domestic contact from a licensed energy supplier.
- Be on an existing fixed price contract agreed on or after 1 December 2021, signing a new fixed contract, a deemed contract, on a flexible purchase (or similar) contract, or a variable ‘Day Ahead Index’ tariffs (Northern Ireland only).
- Operate primarily within an eligible sector. Operating primarily within an eligible sector means that 50% or more of the organisation’s revenue for the financial year 2021/22 fell within an eligible sector. The list of SIC codes available here acts as a proxy for the sectors eligible for the higher level of support.
- The organisation physically consuming the energy will need to be the one to apply for the higher discount.
- For Local Authority entities, eligibility will be determined at a premise level. Where there are no relevant accounts, the Local Authority will be required to declare that at least 50% of the space is taken up by operations within an eligible sector.
The higher level of discount will apply to 70% of energy volumes and will be subject to a maximum discount of £40.0/MWh (4 pence per kWh) for gas and £89.1/MWh for electricity (8.91 pence per kWh). The baseline level of support will be automatically applied for the remaining 30% of energy volumes.
Eligible organisations were required to apply for the higher support via a digital portal that will open on the EBDS gov.uk page in early April. The government will determine eligibility based on the application, using Companies House data, eligibility for other Energy Intensive Industry (EII) compensation schemes and other data sources to make the initial determination.
Visit our webpage for more information about the Government’s Energy Bill Relief Scheme which ran from 01 October 2022 – 31 March 2023.
EBDS FAQs
A. If you are eligible for discount, and we have communicated your new prices to you, you will find the rate change and discounted price on each eligible monthly invoice.
A. BES will write to notify all eligible customers if and when the Government thresholds have been reached and there is an associated discount for your supply contract.
A. As the application process is managed by the Government, please contact ebrs@beis.gov.uk. BES is unable to apply any discount until the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has approved your application.
A. We encourage you to maintain an active Direct Debit to prevent incurring additional charges and to ensure where you are eligible you receive the associated discounted price.
