Guidance on the Energy Bill Relief Scheme: help for businesses and other non-domestic customers (Northern Ireland) has now been published:
The scheme will be available to everyone on a non-domestic contract, who meet certain criteria. This includes:
- businesses
- voluntary sector organisations, such as charities
- public sector organisations such as schools, hospitals and leisure centres
It will be automatically applied to bills from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023.
A full overview of the various schemes (updated 14th November) has been published by the Department for Business, Energy and industrial Strategy and can be found here: Northern Ireland Energy Bill Schemes Overview
Non Domestic Consume Guidance:
| Name of scheme | Who it applies to | How it works | Timing |
| Energy Bill Relief Scheme (Northern Ireland) | All eligible non-domestic electricity and natural gas customers in Northern Ireland who receive their energy from a licensed supplier, including businesses, charities, and the public sector. | This scheme will provide energy bill relief for businesses, public and voluntary sector organisations in Northern Ireland.
Discounts are automatically applied by suppliers to energy bills of eligible customers, covering energy usage between 1 October 2022 and 31 March 2023. The exact discount applied will depend on the type of contract a customer is on, and when it was agreed. Eligible customers are those on fixed deals signed on or after the 1st December 2021, as well as those on variable, deemed, out-of-contract, flexible and variable ‘day ahead’ tariffs. There are some limited exclusions for businesses which use gas or electricity for the purpose of generating power they are selling back into the grid, for example.
The scheme will provide a pence per kilowatt hour discount and reflect the difference between the government supported price and the relevant wholesale price. The scheme sets a government supported price of £211 per MWh for electricity and £75 per MWh for gas. The maximum discount for flexible / variable contracts is £345 per MWh for electricity and £91 per MWh for gas.
The discount is applied to the wholesale element of a customer’s bill, and the final bill will include other elements such as network charges. |
Discount appears from November, covering energy usage from 1 October 2022. Will run for initial 6-month period.
A Review will be published by the end of the year, where the Government will consider the need for further targeted support for businesses beyond March 2023. |