Business West welcomes energy support scheme for business but calls for more long-term detail

Responding to the government’s Energy Bill Relief Scheme announcement, Claire Ralph, Policy Manager at Business West, said: 

“Business West welcomes details announced today on the Energy Bill Relief Scheme for businesses across the South West which provides an element of certainty, for a limited time, on the unit prices that business customers can be charged by their utility providers – set at 21.1p per kilo watt hour (kWh) for electricity and 7.5p per kWh for gas. No restriction has been announced to the standing charge element of non-domestic bills, which look to remain uncapped. 

“This support provides businesses vital breathing and planning space to manage cashflow and profitability through the winter months.

"Business West on behalf of firms across the region calls on early clarity of longer term protection the Government has promised for ‘vulnerable’ customers given the potential for a cliff edge on 1 April 2023 if this isn’t well targeted.

“We are relieved that firms who attempted to forestall tariffs continuing to escalate by locking in new fixed term contracts since 1 April 2022 will be covered by the scheme at the same rates. Businesses don’t need to do anything to qualify as the new rates will be applied by their utility providers via adjustments to their bills – providing timely relief to anxious firms.”