With 2022 the UK’s hottest year on record, as we enter a new year, our actions to tackle climate change are more important than ever. There are already some positive signs heading into 2023, including record-breaking renewables and successful optimisation schemes. In this edition we’ll also look at the new ‘Energy Bills Discount Scheme’ recently announced by the Government. Here is our round-up of all you need to know: 

The UK Government has recently announced a new ‘Energy Bills Discount Scheme’, which will replace the current ‘Energy Bill Relief Scheme’ that ends in March 2023.

The new Energy Bills Discount Scheme will run from 1st April 2023 – 31st March 2024, to help support businesses with the cost of wholesale energy for an additional 12 months.

Eligible non-domestic consumers will receive a per-unit discount to their electricity bills during the 12-month period, subject to a maximum discount, and those in energy intensive sectors are set to receive a higher level of support.

We will be contacting our customers once more details of the Government’s scheme are published, and we will continue to update our website and social channels with the latest information. In the meantime, you can learn more about the new scheme on the Government’s website, here.

The initial five Demand Flexibility Service tests have delivered more than 780MWh of demand reduction, according to National Grid ESO¹.

The scheme, launched at the beginning of November, gives households and businesses the opportunity to shift their electricity use away from specific time periods – providing the first service to successfully deliver consumer demand flexibility at scale in Britain. It enables participants to optimise their usage to support the grid and make both cost and energy savings.

National Grid ESO described the tests so far as a success. Currently settlement data is only available for the first two tests, showing a total of 314.2 MWh was delivered.

More than 1 million businesses and households have now signed up to participate, with 26 electricity suppliers currently involved. Small and medium-sized businesses are still able to sign up for the service if their supplier is participating in the scheme*.

To learn more about optimisation and its benefits to both businesses and the grid, click here to read our blog. Or you can find out more about the Demand Flexibility Service by visiting the National Grid ESO website.

*please note Bryt Energy are not currently participating in this scheme.

Last year saw some encouraging steps forward for environmental transparency, with the number of businesses reporting under The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) increasing by 42%².

The CDP runs the global environmental disclosure project, and assesses companies based on a number of factors, such as their environmental practices, performance and progress, and awareness of climate issues, and gives a score based on their Climate Change disclosure and environmental performance.

In 2022, more than 280 companies were ranked as “A-listers” on their corporate Climate Change disclosures, marking the year-on-year improvement.

The increase in reporting was despite more stringent scoring being implemented, which judged whether corporate emissions targets were aligned with keeping the global temperature rise below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and whether climate transition plans were robust and credible.

There is, however, still much room for improvement – with CDP noting that 30,000 large businesses did not respond to its disclosure requests. There’s more to be done in 2023, so to learn more about the CDP, what the benefits are for your business and how you can start reporting today, click here.

The future for wind is looking bright, with 2023 already seeing a new UK energy generation record³. National Grid ESO has confirmed the record 21.6GW of electricity generated by wind in the 30-minute period between 6pm and 6:30pm on January 10^th, providing 50.4% of Britain’s electricity. This beats the previous record set less than a month ago on December 30^th last year, of 20.9GW, which itself was the third wind energy record set in 2022. That same day saw another record broken, with 87.2% of daily electricity coming from zero carbon sources. As the cheapest source of new electricity and the ability to reduce the UK’s use of fossil fuels and drive down energy bills, the continuous spell of record-breaking wind generation is good news for British businesses.

The UK currently has 15GW of installed onshore wind generation capacity, and the Government has been advised by the Climate Change Committee (CCC) that it must reach 35GW by 2035. With public support for renewables hitting new highs, it’s emerged that the development of 45GW of onshore wind farms (a target previously considered by the Government) would take up just 2.1% of the UK’s total land space, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU)⁴.

Meanwhile, UK onshore wind could see a boost on a policy level. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities has published a consultation seeking views on its proposed update to the National Planning Policy Framework⁵. This includes changes to policy for onshore wind to provide local authorities with more flexibility to respond to the views of their communities. Changes would also put into practice commitments set out in the previously-announced British Energy Security Strategy to support the repowering of onshore wind and to review the barriers to installing energy efficiency measures.

Businesses can respond to the whole consultation by March 2nd. Click here to find out more.

A major breakthrough for nature recovery has been achieved at the UN’s Biodiversity Conference.

COP15 took place in Montreal recently and ended with an agreement which has been deemed the “30×30” target, with nations agreeing to adopt four goals and 23 targets for 2030⁶. These include protecting 30% of Earth’s lands, 30% of Earth’s oceans, coastal areas and inland waters, whilst also restoring 30% of degraded ecosystems through “effective conservation and management”. The agreement has also put in place targets to reduce public and private subsidies that harm biodiversity by $500 billion, and cut food waste in half by the end of the decade.

Meanwhile, the Business for Nature group used the occasion to highlight its campaign to call for mandatory requirements for all large businesses and financial institutions to assess and disclose their impacts on biodiversity as well as their dependencies on nature by 2030⁷. More than 330 organisations from 56 countries have already joined the call.

• The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has announced the Energy Intensive Industries Renewables Obligation (EII RO) exemption will remain at 85% throughout the 2023-24 obligation year⁸. The exemption helps energy intensive industries in the UK remain cost competitive by assisting them with the indirect costs of the RO.

• Low-carbon energy sources have generated more than half of the UK’s electricity this winter, according to RenewableUK⁹. Renewables (40%) plus nuclear energy (14%) has provided 54% of the country’s power since the end of October. This has enabled the UK to reduce its gas imports by more than 3.5 billion m³, which would otherwise have cost UK bill payers £5.7 billion.

• The UK Government has confirmed that geothermal power will be eligible for the fifth allocation round (AR5) of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme¹⁰. It’s expected new participants will be able to apply to the scheme from March. Projects in the geothermal category would come online in 2026/27 or 2027/28¹¹. A letter from the Environmental Audit Committee also confirmed the Government is continuing to monitor geothermal heating technology development and how it could play a part in the UK’s future energy mix.

If you have any questions on how any of the updates might affect your business, our team of experts is on hand to answer them. You can get in touch with us on 0330 053 8620 or at heretohelp@brytenergy.co.uk.