Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS)

Important: how the EBRS will be displayed on your invoice

Dear Customer,

In September, the government confirmed its support to help businesses manage increasing energy costs this winter through its Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS).

This new scheme has set a ‘government supported price’ and a discount structure that will apply to energy consumed from 1 October 2022 for six months. It is expected that there will then be a government-led review of the scheme after around three months which will inform what level of support (if any) is to be provided to qualifying customers beyond March 2023.

For clarity, the discount only applies to the wholesale commodity element of the total price.

Possible delay to your invoice

We have been developing and testing at pace our technical capabilities to determine how best to reflect the EBRS discount in our invoicing processes.

As a result, there may be a slight delay in us sending you your November invoice (for October’s consumption). However, in this email we would like to let you know what you can expect to see on your next invoice, depending on the type of contract(s) you have with us.

If you are on a fixed contract

You will shortly receive your invoice, which will include a new line item that shows the EBRS discount you are entitled to for that invoice period; including the p/kWh discount rate, the consumption quantity it applies to and the benefit (in £) of the discount.

You may see a line with a zero discount rate included on your invoice, this could be because the date you signed your contract is outside of the eligibility period, the date you signed your contract has a zero discount rate published, or your prices are already below the level of the government supported price.

You can look up the government published discount rates here and further information on the scheme can be found here. In some cases, we have to adjust the published discount rates to take account of the floor price mechanism, which ensures that a customer’s rates will not be discounted below a given threshold, in order to avoid a situation where a customer could receive negative unit charges.

If you are on a flex contract

You will shortly receive your invoice, which will include a new line item that shows the EBRS discount you are entitled to for that invoice period; including the p/kWh discount rate, the consumption quantity it applies to and the benefit (in £) of the discount.

This new line will only appear where we have calculated that you are due to receive a discount.

The weighted average price (WAP) for each month you have traded (between October 2022 to March 2023) is assessed against the government supported price of 21.1p/kWh for electricity and 7.5p/kWh for gas.

If the WAP exceeds the government supported price, then a discount will be applied on your invoice for that month’s consumption, which will be subject to the maximum discount level of 34.5p/kWh for electricity and 9.1p/kWh for gas.

You can view the prices underpinning the WAP in your Price Setting Report (PSR) or Purchase Monitoring Spreadsheet (PMS).

You will not receive a discount if your weighted average trade price for the invoice period is below the government supported price.

You can look up the government published discount rates here and further information on the scheme can be found here.

If you are on a MultiPurchase contract

You will shortly receive your invoice, which will include a new line item that shows the EBRS discount you are entitled to for that invoice period; including the p/kWh discount rate, the consumption quantity it applies to and the benefit (in £) of the discount.

This new line will only appear where we have calculated that you are due to receive a discount.

You will not receive a discount if your weighted average trade price for the invoice period is below the government supported price.

The weighted average price (WAP) for each month you have traded (between October 2022 to March 2023) is assessed against the government supported price of 21.1p/kWh for electricity and 7.5p/kWh for gas.

If the WAP exceeds the government supported price, then a discount will be applied on your invoice for that month’s consumption, which will be subject to the maximum discount level of 34.5p/kWh for electricity and 9.1p/kWh for gas.

Where you have multiple unit rates, these will be volume-weighted to calculate a single WAP.

Furthermore, you can view the prices underpinning the WAP in your Purchase Monitoring Spreadsheet (PMS).

You can look up the government published discount rates here and further information on the scheme can be found here.

If you are on a deemed or default contract

You will shortly receive your invoice, which will include a new line item that shows the EBRS discount you are entitled to for that invoice period; including the p/kWh discount rate, the consumption quantity it applies to and the benefit (in £) of the discount.

The discount will be applied to your invoices based on the maximum discount level of 34.5p/kWh for electricity and 9.1p/kWh for gas.

You can look up the government published discount rates here and further information on the scheme can be found here.

Any questions?

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your patience and understanding while we have been working to implement the necessary technical capabilities to support this new process.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your CRM Executive, Client Lead or Account Manager who will be happy to help.

As a reminder, if you would like any further information on the scheme itself, please visit our dedicated EBRS page on our website, which includes a webinar recording and some frequently asked questions (FAQs).

Kind regards,

npower Business Solutions