Small businesses across the UK sit in shock as their energy provider, EDF, fails to pass on the government’s energy bill relief discount to customers, reports The Times.
SMEs have faced an uphill battle for the last three years, with operating conditions akin to those seen following the financial crisis in 2007.
For 2,000 of these small businesses it has become even more challenging, as EDF have not applied the government’s emergency support to their customers’ energy bills.
Energy Bill Relief Scheme
Introduced in September 2022, the Energy Bill Relief Scheme had been created to support small businesses, as the cost of gas and electricity skyrocketed due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (and the resulting negative externalities).
On EDF’s website, the company had advised business customers: “If you’re one of our SME business customers and you’re on a variable tariff or a fixed tariff that you agreed after 1 December 2021, then you may be eligible for the Energy Bill Relief Scheme.
“The scheme provides you with discounts on the cost of the energy your business uses between 1 October 2022 and 31 March 2023. We’ll be applying the discounts to your bills retrospectively, starting from 1 November 2022.
“Your discount depends on the amount of energy you use and the unit cost that you pay.”
Businesses and households alike received financial support to help alleviate the rise in energy prices, however, EDF have left thousands of their clients in the cold.
Despite being eligible for the relief, the French energy company placed small businesses into financial disarray, blaming the error on system issues.
Resulting from this, the UK government has instructed the energy regulator, Ofgem, to investigate whether other energy companies have passed on discounts to applicable small businesses.
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