The Government will set out details of a major support package for businesses, as they attempt to ease the financial hit of soaring energy bills.
The package is set to run to tens of billions of pounds and comes amid heightened calls from firms for certainty over electricity and gas costs to enable them to plan.
Ministers have said that firms, schools, hospitals, charities and other non-domestic consumers will be covered by the scheme following warnings of the devastating impact on the economy if they fail to act.
The Government has already announced that bills for an average household in England, Scotland and Wales will be capped at £2,500 from October 1 – but while businesses have been promised equivalent support, they have been waiting for details as officials have been drawing up a bespoke scheme.
The new Energy Bill Relief Scheme provides a discount on wholesale costs for all non-domestic customers.
The Government has set a supported wholesale price – expected to be £211 per MWh for electricity and £75 per MWh for gas, less than half the wholesale prices anticipated this winter – to cut bills.
The scheme will apply to fixed contracts agreed on or after April 1 this year, as well as to deemed, variable and flexible tariffs and contracts.
It will apply to energy usage from October 1 to March 31.
Prime Minister Liz Truss said shops and pubs will benefit from support with their energy bills beyond the initial six-month scope of the scheme.
She said: “We know that businesses are very concerned about the level of their energy bills.
“That’s why we are putting in place a scheme for business that will be equivalent to the scheme for households to make sure that businesses are able to get through the winter.
“We’re going to review it after six months. We’ll make sure that the most vulnerable businesses like pubs, like shops, continue to be supported after that.”
She said the initial scheme “will apply from the first of October to make sure businesses have that security through the winter”.
The savings will be first seen in October bills, which are typically received in November.
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