Government’s energy bill relief has removed serious risk for a quarter of businesses

In response to the UK Government’s introduction of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS), the Institute of Directors has found that 24% of business leaders believe that the energy price cap has removed a serious risk to their business.

In its poll of nearly 500 directors, of those reporting energy making up more than 5% of their costs, the IoD also found that:

5% stated that they would have stopped trading if it were not for the energy price cap this winter
11% stated that they have been able to keep our premises open for longer because of the energy price cap
35% stated that having the energy price cap this winter has made it easier for their business to plan

Alex Hall-Chen Senior Policy Advisor at the Institute of Directors, said “We know that the cost of energy has been a significant concern for business. However, our data shows that the Government’s Energy Bill Relief Scheme has been a crucial intervention, removing a serious risk to around a quarter of businesses. This suggests that the government was right to introduce the scheme in order to provide sufficient time to identify the characteristics of those businesses.”

“We therefore urge the government to continue the EBRS for sectors of the economy particularly vulnerable to current fluctuations in international energy markets. To this end, we are concerned that no provision was made for the extension of the scheme beyond March 2023 in the policy costings that accompanied the Autumn Statement.”

Please estimate the proportion of your organisation’s total costs that are made up of energy costs.

0-5%	48%
6-10%	22%
11-15%	10%
16-20%	6%
Over 20%	4%
Don’t know	10%