UK businesses given cap halving price paid for energy this winter
Businesses have been given an emergency package of government support including a cap halving the price paid for energy for six months from 1 October.
The government has stepped in to discount wholesale power prices for companies, charities and public sector organisations, including schools.
Under the plan, they will be given support for six months to protect them from soaring bills this winter. Further support will be offered to companies in vulnerable industries after that.
On announcing an energy support package earlier this month, Liz Truss said the government would “launch a new scheme for all non-domestic customers who would otherwise have been at the mercy of high prices driven by Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine”. It also said: “The majority of UK non-domestic customers are on fixed-price energy deals.”
The regulator Ofgem’s energy price cap for the average household does not apply to businesses, meaning firms had faced bills that were due to rise even more sharply than for domestic users.
The government has now announced a “supported wholesale price” – expected to be £211 per megawatt hour for electricity and £75 per megawatt hour for gas, less than half the wholesale prices anticipated this winter. The changes will apply to new contracts from 1 October, and to fixed contracts taken out since 1 April.
The government said those on default, deemed or variable tariffs will receive a per-unit discount on energy costs, up to a maximum of the difference between the supported price and the average expected wholesale price over the period of the scheme. The amount of this discount is likely to be around £405 per megawatt hour for electricity and £115 per megawatt hour for gas.
For businesses on flexible purchase contracts,
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