How The PM’s Energy-Aid Package Will Help Businesses

Package includes a 6 month plan to support businesses and public sector organisations

There has been much debate recently about the rising cost of energy and the ongoing ‘moving goalpost’ of the domestic tariff price cap. While this has been a concerning time for consumers, the uncertainty for businesses has arguably been even greater as there is no price cap on non-domestic energy prices. In her plan for tackling the crisis, the new prime minister, Liz Truss, has announced that there will be support for businesses in the government’s energy-aid package.

Detail is scant at the moment but from what we know so far this will include:

‘Equivalent support’ for businesses with a price cap for 6 months

A review in 3 months to consider whether the scheme should be more targeted

Potential ongoing support beyond the 6 months for ‘vulnerable industries. This is likely to include hospitality, leisure, and manufacturing businesses who have high energy use in relation to revenue and
profits.

What does this mean for businesses, and will it be enough?

This should hopefully give businesses some reassurance that increases in energy costs in the short term at least are not quite as limitless as they may have seemed. That said, we won’t have any details on exact numbers until more information is announced over the coming days.

While there is an absence of detail, it seems likely that even with intervention of this type, businesses will need to come up with other strategies for reducing their energy costs if they want to survive in the long term.

We would, therefore, strongly urge businesses to consider the following:

Investigate the potential for negotiating better tariffs with existing or new suppliers (there are still opportunities to do this for non-domestic accounts)

Be bold in taking steps to reduce energy consumption. There are many ways to do this that may not be obvious to you but that an energy consultant can advise you on

Embrace more renewable energy solutions as this will help future-proof your energy needs in the long term and make you less vulnerable to these crises.

Could ESOS help?

If your business falls within the scope of the Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme, you will know that you have to complete this process before December 2023. However, you don’t have to wait until then and starting work on it now will bring forward cost savings, helping you bring down consumption over this next period of relative stability afforded by the new measures, and secure long term energy efficiencies.

Get in touch to see how we can help

We can help you implement various strategies to manage energy better, including Energy Supplier tariff support, site energy saving surveys, and ESOS compliance.