Government launches business energy efficiency campaign
Campaign to offer guidance on how organisations can reduce their energy bills while slashing emissions
As the fresh tax year gets underway this morning, the government has launched a new energy efficiency campaign designed to help businesses, charities, and public sector bodies slash their emissions and energy bills.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) said the campaign would be targeted at small and medium sized businesses and offer guidance on energy-saving measures such as installing light and heating timers, turning down boiler flow temperatures, and switching to more efficient lightbulbs.
It will be promoted through partnerships with the British Chambers of Commerce and Federation of Small Business, as well as through paid ads on TV, radio, social media, and other channels, the government said.
Meanwhile, a new website will set out advice to businesses outlining a range of possible actions for curbing energy use, such as improving energy data management or upgrading and modifying equipment.
Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, stressed that action to improve energy efficiency could significantly lower operational costs for firms up and down the country, while also contributing to the UK’s climate goals.
“From today businesses, charities and public sector bodies can access helpful and practical advice on simple actions they can take to substantially reduce their energy use – and potentially increase profits,” he said. “Not only will this help lower operational costs by up to hundreds of thousands of pounds, but smarter energy use will help us deliver on our critical pledges to cut demand by 15 per cent and reach net zero by 2050.”
The campaign is launched on the day the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which effectively froze business energy bills when it was introduced in the autumn, has been replaced by the Energy Bills Discount Scheme.
Some business groups have warned the new scheme, which is less generous than its predecessor will not go far enough to protect them from volatile energy prices over the coming 12 months, warning some firms could see significant increases in already high energy costs.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), today warned the end of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme was putting businesses and jobs at risk.
“Thousands of businesses will find that their energy bills surge this month because the government’s new scheme gives much less help,” he said. “Many companies will simply not be able to cope with these bills, and that could put jobs at risk too. The government must not allow a short-term crisis to become a permanent destroyer of jobs and businesses.”
Under the Energy Bills Discount Scheme, companies will receive a discount to the per-unit cost of energy bills when costs exceed a threshold of £203 per MWh for electricity and £107MWh for gas. In contrast, under the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, the cost of electricity was capped at £211MWh for electricity and £75MWh for gas.
In other news, from today businesses will be able to take advantage of a number of changes to the UK’s capital investment tax regime, including measures designed to incentivise investment in clean technologies.
From today, firms will be able to deduct 100 per cent of the cost of certain plant and machinery investments from their profits before tax, and 50 per cent of the cost of plant and machinery on “special rate assets” including solar panels and lighting systems.
The government claims the policy, announced earlier this month by the Chancellor, amounts to a £27bn business tax cut over the next three years.
“With full expensing, the more a company invests the less tax they’ll pay, and I encourage companies of any size to take full advantage of this world-leading reform,” said Victoria Atkins, financial secretary to the Treasury.
