Guidance

Apply for the Energy Bills Discount Scheme support for Energy and Trade Intensive Industries (ETIIs)

Use this service if you are a UK business or organisation in an ETII sector that needs to apply for the Energy Bills Discount Scheme support.

From:
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
Published
27 March 2023
Last updated
16 August 2024 — See all updates

The Energy Bills Discount Scheme also offers support to:

Due to differences in meter types and numbers, you should apply for eligible sites in Northern Ireland separately from any sites you are applying for in Great Britain.

Who can apply for ETII support

You may only submit an application if you are ‘newly eligible’ for support. This means you are either:

  • a new and eligible business, incorporated from 11 February 2024 onwards
  • a business that has undergone a change in business activity, meaning you now generate at least 50% of your revenue from activity in an eligible SIC code on or after 11 February 2024

The support scheme (EBDS) closed on the 31 March 2024. Any applications from businesses that became eligible after this date will not be considered. The EBDS Rules require you to have been eligible for at least 6 months before applying.

All applications must be submitted no later than 21 October 2024.

The discount will be backdated to the date you became eligible.

Eligibility for ETII support

An organisation is considered eligible for ETII support if at least 50% of its revenue is generated from UK-based activity within eligible Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code sectors.

The discount will apply to 70% of energy volumes.

You must have a non-domestic contract with a licensed energy supplier and be:

  • on existing fixed price contracts that were agreed on or after 1 December 2021
  • signing new fixed price contracts
  • on deemed/out of contract or variable tariffs
  • on flexible purchase (or similar) contracts
  • on variable ‘Day Ahead Index’ (DAI) tariffs (Northern Ireland scheme only)

For local authorities, eligibility may be determined at a premise level. Where there are no relevant financial accounts, the local authority will be required to declare that at least 50% of the space within that premise is taken up by operations within eligible sectors.

You will need to apply for support in the same way as ETIIs with licensed energy providers if:

  • you’re an ETII that uses energy from a license exempt energy provider 
  • you’re part of the Non-Standard Cases scheme

You should apply even if energy prices are currently lower than the threshold to receive the discount.

ETIIs on a heat network

If an ETII is supplied by a heat supplier eligible for the EBDS heat supplier support, the ETII does not need to apply.

The heat supplier must claim the discount and pass on the benefit to their ETII customer.

Who are not eligible

The discount will not apply to:

  • energy used to generate and export material quantities of energy back to the grid, including if it has been stored first – except for some combined heat and power schemes
  • energy made available, or used to make heating, hot water or electricity available to customers in the Republic of Ireland

Information needed in your application

You will need:

  • contact details of the applicant (including email address and phone number)
  • registered name and address of the organisation or business
  • company registration number (CRN) if the organisation has one
  • up to 4 ETII eligible standard industrial classification (SIC) codes that relate to your organisation’s activities - see the list of eligible sector SIC codes

  • energy supplier names and the gas or electricity meter point numbers (MPRN or MPAN) associated with the property, found on bills from your energy suppliers

  • the name of your organisation as it appears on your bill from your energy suppliers
  • details of any intermediary providers such as landlords if you don’t pay energy suppliers directly

Providing your supplier name and meter numbers during registration will reduce the time it takes to receive your discount.

Evidence needed to support your application

Signed director’s declaration letter

You will need to provide a letter signed by a named director or equivalent of your organisation or business. You should use the template provided, which sets out what must be included in your letter.

Additional financial evidence

You may also need to provide further information if your business or organisation was not registered at Companies House with an eligible SIC code in December 2022.

This evidence is:

  • your most recent full set of end-of-year accounts - if you do not have these, upload evidence of your most recent company accounts, covering a minimum period of the most recent 6 months
  • an Income Statement referring to the same time period as the accounts
  • a sample of 20 sales invoices, no older than 12 months from the date of the signed declaration, which demonstrates activity that falls within an eligible sector
  • license or trade body membership details for regulated industries (if applicable)
  • any additional evidence you want to support your application

To help with the processing of your application, you could also upload a letter signed by an external auditor or chartered accountant. This should confirm that you are in an eligible sector, and that 50% or more of your revenue generated from Great Britain and Northern Ireland are in an eligible sector. A template for the accountant’s report is available.

Sole traders

Sole traders who cannot provide all the other financial evidence should upload a sample of 20 sales and purchase invoices for the eligible activities.

Local authorities (including libraries)

Local authority applicants who cannot provide the financial evidence should upload floor plans of the relevant property, with accompanying measurements in square metres. This should show that 50% or more of your activities are in an eligible sector.

We may need to contact you to ask for evidence of the date you became eligible.

Signed director’s undertaking declaration letter

Once your eligibility has been confirmed, Northern Ireland applicants will be asked to provide a letter signed by a named director or equivalent of your organisation or business confirming the number of people you employ and whether or not you are part of a wider undertaking.

An undertaking refers to an entity that carries out an economic activity, regardless of its legal form or how it is financed. For example, a parent and subsidiary company, 2 subsidiaries of the same parent company, or a company and joint venture entity in which it has a stake (and the joint venture’s other parent) may be counted as a single undertaking, if they effectively operate as a single economic unit on the market.

You should use the template provided, which sets out what must be included in your letter.

How to apply

Any newly eligible ETII’s must submit their application by email to operations.ebds@beis.gov.uk

All applications must be submitted by 11:59pm on 21 October 2024.

If you require an extension of the deadline, let us know in writing (by email) with the reason. This must be received before the deadline ends.

What you need to know

Your application details and evidence will be assessed to determine whether you should receive the discount.

You will be told about this decision by email.

If you’re eligible, a certificate will be emailed to you. This will include information on steps you may need to take to get the discount.

Changes of circumstances

You must tell us about any change in circumstances that might affect your eligibility or your supplier’s ability to apply the discount. You can do this by contacting the customer support team.

You will need to contact us if any details on the certificate change.

EBDS customer support

If you cannot apply online, phone the EBDS customer support team:

Email: support@ebds.beis.gov.uk
Telephone: 030 0400 5251
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
Find out about call charges

About the Energy Bills Discount Scheme support for Energy and Trade Intensive Industries (ETIIs)

Recognising that some non-domestic energy users in Great Britain and Northern Ireland are particularly vulnerable to high energy prices due to their energy intensity and trade exposure, these sectors will receive a higher level of support as they are unable to pass these costs on to the customer due to international competition.

The support you will be eligible to receive

Organisations will receive a discount reflecting the difference between the price threshold and the relevant wholesale price. The thresholds are:

  • Electricity - £185 per MWh
  • Gas - £99 per MWh

This discount will only apply to 70% of energy volumes and will be subject to a ‘maximum discount’ of £40.0/MWh for gas and £89/MWh for electricity. The baseline level of support will apply for the remaining 30% of energy volumes where the customers wholesale price meets the baseline eligibility criteria. The discount is likely to show up as one line on your bill as suppliers will do one calculation for the overall discount you are owed.

In order to comply with all relevant subsidy obligations, we are capping support for applicants in Northern Ireland who trade in, sell, or manufacture goods at £2 million approximately per undertaking until further notice. We will work with organisations impacted by this restriction.

Example discount calculation for a ETII customer

A customer uses c.4 MWh of electricity a month. They signed a fixed price contract on 9 October 2022, giving them a current electricity unit rate of 61.2p/kWh (illustrative example)

How the discount is calculated April May June
Electricity consumed (kWh) 4,130 3,929 4,041
Fixed Electricity contracted unit prices p/kWh 61.2 61.2 61.2
Electricity Base Discount p/kWh 1.961 1.961 1.961
Electricity ETII Discount p/kWh 8.9 8.9 8.9
Weighted discount (70% ETII discount + 30% base discount) p/kWh 6.82 6.82 6.82
Electricity Bill £2,527.56 £2,404.55 £2,473.09
Price Adjustment from EBDS £281.67 £267.96 £275.60
Net Customer Bill £2,245.89 £2,136.59 £2,197.50

Further information about the scheme

You can:

Updates to this page

Published 27 March 2023
Last updated 16 August 2024 + show all updates

  1. Eligibility details and the way to apply have changed.

  2. Updated with more information about who can apply after 25 July 2023

  3. Updated to make it clear that the closing date for eligible organisations to apply is by 23:59 on 25 July 2023.

  4. Updated the page as you can now apply for the Energy Bills Discount Scheme ETII support.

  5. Updated with more information about what evidence you will need to gather ready for when the application portal opens later in April.

  6. First published.

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