The Finance Bill 2022 makes provision for the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme – TBESS – which will provide support to businesses impacted by the unprecedented increase in energy costs resulting from the military aggression by Russia in Ukraine. The scheme is an approved State Aid under the European Commission’s Temporary Crisis Framework (TCF)1.

Eligible Businesses

The TBESS scheme, which is being administered by Revenue, provides for a cash payment to qualifying businesses. Businesses can make a claim under the scheme if:

• they are tax compliant;
• they carry on a Case I trade or Case II profession. This includes charities and approved sporting bodies providing they carry on certain activities and;
• they have experienced a significant increase of 50% or more in their electricity and/or natural gas average unit price during the relevant period.

 Key Features of Scheme

• The scheme will operate in respect of electricity and natural gas costs relating to the period 1 September 2022 to 28 February 2023. Claims may be made in respect of each calendar month (referred to as a ‘claim period’) within this period. The first claim period for which a claim can be made is September 2022 and businesses can now make claims through the Revenue Online Service (ROS) from 5 December 2022.
• The scheme operates by reference to bills or statements for the metered supply of electricity and natural gas through electricity accounts or gas connections identified by its own Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN) or Gas Point Reference Number (GPRN).
• To be eligible to make a claim under the TBESS in respect of an electricity bill or a natural gas bill, a business must be able to demonstrate that the average unit price for electricity or natural gas on the relevant bill has increased by 50% or more as compared to the average unit price of electricity or natural gas in a reference period. In broad terms, this is the average unit price in the month that is 12 months prior to the claim period to which the relevant bill relates.

This 50% increase is known as the ‘energy costs threshold’.

• Once the eligible business has passed the energy costs threshold in relation to a particular electricity or natural gas bill, and satisfies a number of other conditions, it is a ‘qualifying business’.

Claim Amount

A qualifying business is entitled to claim a Temporary Business Energy Payment (TBEP) amounting to 40% of its eligible cost (subject to a cap for each monthly claim period). A claim for a TBEP must be made within 4 months of the end of the claim period to which a particular electricity or natural gas bill relates.

The eligible cost amount in relation to an electricity or natural gas bill is calculated as the increase between the bill amount on that electricity or natural gas bill as compared to a bill amount in the applicable reference period.

Monthly Cap

The TBEP is subject to a monthly cap, which applies on a per trade basis or a per profession basis. In general, the support available in respect of electricity and natural gas costs is subject to a monthly cap of €10,000 per trade or profession.

Where, however, a business carries on its trade or profession from more than one location, as identified by the business having multiple electricity accounts/ MPRNs in different locations, the cap may be increased by €10,000 per electricity account/ MPRN, subject to an overall monthly cap of €30,000 per trade.

Publication

Revenue will publish a list of the names and addresses of all businesses who avail of the TBESS. The list will include the total amounts they have claimed.

As a requirement under the TCF, Revenue will publish additional details in relation to persons who are members of a single undertaking where claims under the TBESS exceed:

• €100,000 for any claim period

or

• €10,000 per claim period where the single undertaking is engaged in farming or fishery and aquaculture.