The Government will set out details of a major support package for businesses trying to cushion the financial blow from soaring electricity bills.
The package is set to be worth tens of billions of pounds and comes amid increased demands from companies to be given certainty over electricity and gas costs so they can plan.
Ministers said firms, schools, hospitals, charities and other non-household consumers would be covered by the scheme after warnings of a devastating impact on the economy if they failed to act.
The government has already announced that bills for the average family in England, Scotland and Wales will be capped at £2,500 from October 1 – but while businesses were promised equivalent support, they were awaiting details as officials worked out a special scheme.
PA
The wholesale price of gas and electricity will be reduced for companies under the scheme, which will be effective for six months from October.
The government will set a cap on the wholesale price paid by overseas customers, including schools and charities.
The “supported wholesale price” is expected to be £211 per megawatt hour (MWh) for electricity and £75 per MWh for gas.
This is around half the expected wholesale price on the open market and is equivalent to the cap on household electricity bills, which will be set in October this year and run for two years.
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said: “We intervened to stop businesses collapsing, protect jobs and contain inflation.
“And with our plans to increase the supply of home-grown energy, we will bring security to the sector, economic growth and a better deal for consumers.”
Premier Liz Truss said shops and pubs would benefit from support on their electricity bills beyond the scheme’s initial six-month scope.
She said: “We know that businesses are very concerned about the level of their electricity bills.
“That is why we are creating a scheme for businesses that will be equivalent to the scheme for households so that businesses can get through the winter.
“In six months we will review it. We will make sure that the most vulnerable businesses, such as pubs, such as shops, continue to receive support after this.”
She said the initial scheme “will apply from the first of October to ensure that businesses have this security throughout the winter”.
The savings will first appear in the bills for October, which usually arrive in November.
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