Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme(TBESS)

In recent weeks the European Commission gave it's approval to the Government's temporary business energy support scheme(TBESS), which had previously been announced as part of this year’s Budget. 

The TBESS has been introduced to support businesses with increases in their electricity or natural gas (energy) costs during the winter months.

Claims began being accepted from December 5^th and the first payments from this scheme are due for payment in later days of December.  Take up of the scheme is now in access of  7,000 businesses as recently quoted by Finance Minister Michael McGrath.

Who Is Eligible To Make A Claim?

Your business can make a claim under the scheme if it:

• is tax compliant
• carries on a Case I trade or Case II profession. This includes charities and approved sporting bodies that carry on certain activities and
• has experienced a significant increase of 50% or more in its electricity and/or natural gas average unit price, during a claim period

What Is The Value Of This Claim?

Qualifying businesses can claim for 40% of the increases in their energy bills. The increase in energy bills must be between the ‘claim period’ and the ‘reference period’.

A claim period is a calendar month from September 2022 to February 2023. A reference period is the corresponding calendar month in the previous year. For example, September 2021 is the reference period for the September 2022 claim period.

Full details on eligibility can be found on the Revenue Website

If your business is a qualifying business, it can make a claim for a Temporary Business Energy Payment (TBEP). The TBEP is equal to 40% of a business’ eligible costs. This is subject to a monthly cap of €10,000 per trade.(If a business can identify that is carries on it’s trade from more than one location then it may be possible to increase this cap by €10,000 for each location, up to €30,000 per month)

How To Make Your Claim

Eligible businesses can register for the TBESS, via the e-Registration facility in Revenue’s Online Service (ROS). A claim portal in respect of TBESS was made available via the eRepayments system on ROS in early December.

Log in using your ROS online details:

https://www.ros.ie/oidc/login?client_id=rosint_rp

Details from the relevant energy bill for the claim period and the corresponding period 12 months prior will be required to make the claim. 

For information on how to find the relevant bill details to assist you with this process please see Revenue's guidance: 

https://www.revenue.ie/en/starting-a-business/documents/revenue-guidance-understanding-your-bill.pdf

And

Revenue’s TBESS calculator:

https://revenue.ie/en/starting-a-business/tbess/calculator.aspx

Claims must be made within four months of the end of the claim period to which the electricity or gas bill relates.

State Aid

The scheme is designed to be compliant with the European Union State Aid Temporary Crisis Framework (TCF). The TCF sets out overall limits on the financial support that may be claimed by single undertakings. 

Publication

Revenue will publish a list of the names and addresses of all businesses who avail of the TBESS. The list will include the total amounts they have claimed.

Duration of Scheme:

The scheme was initially ran up to 28th February, but has since been extended until 31st May 2023.

Further information on this scheme can be found by clicking the button below to access the full TBESS guidelines and Revenue have also made available a helpful video providing information about the scheme, along with an explanation of the Registration and Claim process. The video and slides are available from the Revenue website.

Time Limit For Making Your Claim:

The time limit for making a claim in relation to an electricity or gas bill is 4 months from the end of the claim period to which the electricity or gas bill relates.

If an energy bill covers more than one claim period, the timeline for making a claim is still in respect of each calendar month separately.

A business will need to allow adequate time to register for the TBESS so that it is able to meet the time limits for making a claim.

Set out below are the relevant time limits for making a claim in respect of each claim period:

Should you require any assistance in relation to this scheme or indeed any other matter relating to your business please do not hesitate to contact DBASS on ph. 01 849 88 00 or info@dbass.ie.

By

Sive Dowling

DBASS Chartered Accountants.

Disclaimer notice

This article is for discussion purposes only.  For further information on any of the topics covered in this article please contact a DBASS adviser on ph. 01 849 88 00.