The UK Government has published its scheme to assist non-domestic customers – including places of worship – with their energy bills from April 2023 – March 2024.
The announcement can be seen here
For most customers, a discount on the price per unit will be applied automatically via energy bills. Details of the discount are shown on the above linked page, and energy providers should provide confirmation to all customers before the end of March 2023. There are some conditions relating to the kind of contract which the customer has with the supplier. In most cases, this will mean a rise in the unit cost of energy from April 2023 compared to what is being paid now, but it will still be below the market price.
A small number of places of worship will qualify for an additional reduction through the ETTI (Energy and Trade Intensive Industries) scheme. This will apply to places of worship which are a historic site or building or a tourist attrcation; or which house a library, archive or museum. They will need to apply for this additional support, and the application process has not yet been published.
Unfortunately, Cytûn does not have the resources to advise individual places of worship on their situation – you need to contact your energy supplier – but we are glad that the case we made to UK Government, with the help of information supplied by a number of local churches, has produced some results.
Thanks to Cytûn's Policy Officer, Revd Gethin Rhys.
