Changes in EBRS Support and What It Means For You
Feb, 2023
Escalating Energy prices post the Ukrainian invasion threatened the existence of businesses across Europe in 2022. Energy suppliers and the Government worked together to introduce government-funded support packages for Energy users both at home and at work to tackle what seemed like an insurmountable problem in the Summer of 2022. The overall impact of these support packages has been positive and introducing the levels of support and the operational mechanisms to deliver them was no easy task.
The current Energy Bill Relief Scheme(EBRS) which provides a discount on the wholesale portion of Energy, applied by suppliers to customers' bills comes to an end on March 31st. This month the Government announced that it will scale back Energy Bill support significantly compared to current levels from April 1st 2023. For the standard form of support, the government has increased the ‘affordable’ wholesale rate and also capped the maximum discount rate meaning that in the worst of examples, customers who were receiving 55p per kWh discount will only receive 1.9p per kWh from April 1st 2023.
With different contracts and tariffs with different suppliers, It can be confusing for customers in current fixed contracts to understand what they’ll pay from April 1st 2023. For many, it essentially means no support at all but because suppliers represent the cost and the discount in different ways on bills it is difficult for some customers to identify how they will be impacted from April 1st 2023.
We’ve drafted some scenarios;
The levels of support provided by the Government from October 1st until March 31st are not sustainable long term and the positive impact that the EBRS scheme had on businesses is probably immeasurable, who knows how many organisations would have failed without it? However, for some customers, the withdrawal of this support to these levels will renew the risk of business failure. Customers were heavily encouraged to sign new fixed contracts without fully understanding the situation that we now know they will be in.
Unify Energy’s Support & Tariffs
Considering the levels of volatility and uncertainty in the market it was really important for Unify Energy to be as flexible as possible with customers. We felt strongly that there was a significant risk of changes with the EBRS scheme post-March 2023 and a potential softening of the Energy market throughout 2023. That made us nervous about locking our customers into very long-term contracts at the height of market volatility where wholesale prices were full of risk premia.
We carried this belief into our contracting terms with our customer base and this means that the majority of our customers are now in a position to continue to avail of the Government’s support until March 31st and then enter into new and much cheaper contracts from April 1st.
Whilst market conditions have improved we are not out of the woods yet and it’s vitally important that every home and business considers its Energy strategy in terms of how you use Energy (Energy intensity) and how you procure Energy;
Continue being mindful of using energy
Consider Investing in renewable energy like Ripple Wind Farm and types of appropriate on-site generation
Explore solutions and technology for better metering and data
Explore all available grants and subsidies
For more information, you can contact the team on 0330 058 0580 or email us: hello@unifyenergy.co.uk
