Today marks the last day of the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme, which was designed to help businesses with their electricity or natural gas energy costs as they surged over the last year.
The scheme had been due to expire at the end of February, but was first extended to May and further extended until today.
Its remit was also extended during its lifetime to cover more of the company’s energy costs and more businesses.
The fund was aimed mainly at small businesses and covered up to 50% of the increase in energy bills, up to €15,000 a month.
Qualifying businesses could claim for 40% of the increases in their September 2022 to February 2023 energy bills and 50% of the increase in their March 2023 to July 2023 energy bills.
The €1.25 billion Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS) was announced in last year’s Budget and was originally planned to cover just Case 1 businesses.
That includes those involved in trade, such as shops, hotels and restaurants.
It was later extended to cover professional businesses, such as doctors, accountants, solicitors and dentists, who are classed as Case 2 by Revenue.
New businesses were also eligible for the TBESS scheme.
The supports were open to businesses that were tax compliant and who had experienced a significant increase in their natural gas and electricity costs, but take-up of the scheme had been lower than expected.
As of the middle of April, 27,763 firms had registered, with 34,227 claims approved worth €74.86m.
This is despite the Government having set aside €1.25 billion in the Budget for the TBESS.
Article Source: Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme ends today – RTE
