The Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath, has published the first three-month assessment of the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS). We remind readers that the deadline for submission of September claims is tomorrow, 31 January 2023.
The scheme has, to date, seen a lower level of uptake against what has been expected and budgeted for. Anecdotally, members have reported that many businesses are failing to reach the 50 percent increase in average unit price requirement and for those that do, registration is cumbersome and, in many cases, the repayment amount is not worth the time and cost in actually making a claim. In addition, oil and Liquid Petroleum Gas are excluded from the scheme as they are not metered. That being said, the scheme only opened for claims in December, and it is expected that claims should increase in the coming weeks.
Commenting, Minister McGrath said:
“This is the first assessment of TBESS and contains up-to-date data on the trajectory of energy prices, the impact from, and effects of, increased energy prices on the economy as well as other relevant issues relating to the operation to the scheme.
As of 25 January, 15,275 businesses have registered for the scheme. 9,148 of these have commenced the claim process. 5,793 claims have been approved with a value of €17.49 million of which €13.24 million has been paid out.
I am urging eligible businesses to continue to make claims under the scheme. Businesses should be aware that the window for making claims in respect of September 2022 will close at the end of this month, so it’s important to complete that claim in the coming days.”