The government’s energy bill relief scheme for England, Scotland and Wales will mean that businesses will get help with their energy bills for an initial six month period from 1 October 2022. A parallel scheme is starting in Northern Ireland too.

Wholesale prices that businesses pay for their electricity will be capped at 21.1p per kWh for electricity and 7.5p per kWh for gas. This reduction will be applied automatically to companies that have variable tariffs with their supplier. For those companies that are on fixed price contracts, the same discounts will be applied if the agreement started on or after 1 April 2022. The savings will appear on bills from November and the reduction will be backdated to October 2022.

The Government will undertake a review that will be published at the end of the year which will help identify “vulnerable” businesses that need support beyond March 2023.

Will the scheme mean that we will pay less at our static holiday caravan park?

It is NACO’s interpretation of the scheme that holiday parks will see the benefit of the scheme. Broadly speaking all energy at holiday parks is controlled by a commercial contract, therefore the new scheme should serve to benefit holiday caravan and lodge owners.

However there are some things to consider...

ELECTRICITY Vs GAS
The government’s scheme is aimed at mains electricity and mains natural gas, so if you are using piped LPG any reductions in gas pricing won’t be of help. All serviced pitches in the UK should benefit from the reduction in the commercial prices so long as any fixed contract was entered into on or after 1st April 2022. If - for instance - you park owner renewed their energy contract in January of this year, they will not see the benefit and this will mean that (in turn) you won’t either. We presume that the thinking behind this is that energy prices for the commercial market weren’t as unstable at the start of the year.

What Should I do?

TAKE A READING TODAY! If you metered the most important thing to do is get a snapshot of your reading. Take a picture if possible which will ‘date-stamp’ the read. Secondly, we’d suggest that you wait until you are sent a bill for your electricity usage. If you can’t wait - you can always drop your park owner an email - please bear in mind that they might not know just yet as commercial contracts are often billed across longer periods. Once your park has sent a bill for the relevant period, you are entitled to an explanation of how the bill has been calculated.

How can I find out how my bill has been calculated?

The resale or electricity at holiday parks is controlled by legislation that deals with ‘maximum resale price’ and this is set by Ofgem. The long and short of the legislation is to note that resellers (in this instance your park owner) can’t resell metered electricity at more than they pay for it. The other obligation is that the reseller must explain, when asked, how they have arrived at the cost of the unit price.