Page type: primary-anchored (mirrors Energy Bill Relief Scheme Regulations 2022, SI 2022/1100)

Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS)

The EBRS was a six-month emergency scheme (1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023) providing discounts on non-domestic energy bills during the 2022 price crisis. It was established by SI 2022/1100 under the Energy Prices Act 2022.

Source file: sources/legislation/uk/si-2022-1100-ebrs.md

How the scheme worked

Pricing benchmarks (Reg. 8)

The Secretary of State published three benchmarks in p/kWh: - Government supported price, the target wholesale price level - Maximum discount, the cap on the per-unit discount - Minimum supply price, the floor below which the supply price cannot fall after discount

These were administrative determinations, not set in the statutory text.

Contract categorisation (Regs. 12-16)

Every non-domestic supply contract was classified as: - Fixed price, where the wholesale price is locked for the term - Flexible price, where the customer can fix or cancel periodically - Variable price, where the supplier can change the price by notice

Each category had its own reference wholesale price methodology. Suppliers had 45 days to categorise existing contracts (Reg. 15).

Discount calculation (Regs. 17-18)

The discount was triple-capped: 1. Base discount = max(0, reference wholesale price - government supported price) (Reg. 17) 2. Discount = min(base discount, maximum discount, supply price - minimum supply price) (Reg. 18)

Recovery from Treasury (Part 3)

Suppliers provided discounts upfront and recovered from the Secretary of State via claims. Payment within 10 business days (Reg. 24). Interest at Bank of England base rate + 2% on late payments.

Anti-gaming safeguards (Part 4)

Customers above 0.5 GWh or 0.5 MW with hedging arrangements, grid-delivery generation, or abusive arrangements faced discount adjustments. Declaration required within 21 days.

Vulnerable customer protection (Part 5)

Qualifying Financially Disadvantaged Customers (QFDCs), meaning those on deemed or out-of-contract terms, received additional required reductions. Status lost after 28 days of late payment (Reg. 51).

Key numerical values

Defined terms

See the full defined terms register in the source file.

Cross-references

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Last updated: 2026-04-05