Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will undertake a review of the Standard Industrial Classification codes that will be eligible for the Energy Bills Discount Scheme; and if he will take steps to include codes (a) 31020 for kitchen manufacturers and (b) 31090 for bathroom manufacturers in that scheme.

The new Energy Bills Discount Scheme will provide all eligible businesses and other non-domestic energy users across the UK with a discount on high energy bills until 31 March 2024, following the end of the current Energy Bill Relief Scheme. It will also provide businesses in sectors with particularly high levels of energy use and trade intensity with a higher level of support.

We have taken a consistent approach to identifying the most energy and trade intensive sectors, with all sectors that meet agreed thresholds for energy and trade intensity eligible for Energy and Trade Intensive Industries (ETII) support. These thresholds have been set at sectors falling above the 80th percentile for energy intensity and 60th percentile for trade intensity, plus any sectors eligible for the existing energy compensation and exemption schemes.

Through the current Energy Bill Relief Scheme, the Government provided an unprecedented package of support for non-domestic users through this winter. The Government has been clear that such levels of support, unprecedented in its nature and huge scale, were time-limited and intended as a bridge to allow businesses to adapt.

The new scheme therefore strikes a balance between supporting businesses for a further 12 months, from April 2023 to March 2024, and limiting taxpayer’s exposure to volatile energy markets, with a cap set at £5.5 billion based on estimated volumes. This provides long term certainty for businesses and reflects how the scale of the challenge has changed since September last year. We will of course continue to monitor energy prices in the coming months.

Further details on the scheme, including information on eligibility and discount levels, can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/energy-bills-discount-scheme.