In the Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced that through the Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) the government will provide heat network customers with a with a higher rate of relief. This aims to ensure that heat network customers do not face disproportionately higher bills when compared to customers in equivalent households who are supported by the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG).

The target rate for heat network EBDS will be 7.83p/kwh for gas, with separate rates for electricity. This is estimated to be worth up to £380 million in total, £860 for the average heat network customer.

Eligible heat network suppliers with domestic customers will be required by law to apply for a specific higher EBDS rate through a digital application portal which will open in April. Successful applications will result in an eligibility certificate for qualifying heat networks being issued to both the heat supplier and the energy supplier.

The goal is to help energy suppliers identify which heat networks will need to receive the higher heat network EBDS rate. Heat suppliers will once again be obliged by law to pass this discount to customers in a ‘just and reasonable’ way.

At 10am on Thursday 23 March the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero will provide an overview of how the scheme will work in a webinar and will take questions from attendees. To sign up for the webinar, click here.