Insite’s Insight: Navigating the end of the Energy Bills Discount Scheme together

21st March 2024

Written by: Eelinn Vanquaethem, Marketing & Content Manager

Welcome to another installment of "Insite's Insight," where we guide you through important industry changes that could affect you as a valued resident on a heat network. Today, we're diving into some big news: the Energy Bill Discount Scheme (EBDS) is wrapping up, and we want to make sure you're in the loop on what that means for your energy tariffs.

Understanding the EBDS

Let’s break it down. The EBDS was introduced as a response to the energy crisis, offering relief on energy bills for you and other residents on heat networks. Unlike consumers with individual gas boilers, you do not have a direct relationship with their energy supplier, like British Gas or EDF. Instead, your heat supplier has a commercial contract with the incoming fuel supplier. This would have resulted in lower discounts, but to ensure residential heat network customers benefitted too, an additional discount was introduced through the EBDS.

As a result, you may have received an updated heating & hot water tariff to reflect this discount. However, not every resident on a heat network would have received this, some heat suppliers had incoming fuel bills that did not exceed the minimum threshold to be eligible for the discount.

What you need to know

1. Tariff changes

With the end of the EBDS, you may have already received a tariff change notification letter alerting you of a price change. Depending on whether your heat supplier was eligible for the EBDS discount and passed this on via your tariffs, some adjustments may be made to your rates. If they did, your unit rate might reflect the lack of a discount from incoming fuel suppliers.

2. Next steps

We want to make sure you’re in the know about any changes to your tariffs. If your heat supplier instructs a review of your tariffs, we'll send you a letter notifying you of upcoming changes to your new energy rates. Take some time to review your energy tariffs and understand what is going on with your billing. Take some time to review these energy tariffs and understand how they affect your billing. To assist with this process, we now offer tariff rate breakdowns, which can be accessed by searching for your building name or postcode on the ‘My home’ page.

Should you have any questions regarding your new tariffs, don't hesitate to reach out to your metering & billing provider. It's important to note that the responsibility for adhering to EBDS pass-through requirements lies with your heat supplier. If you have any queries related to this, feel free to contact your heat supplier directly. You can find their phone number on the ‘My home’ page as well.

3. Stay informed

Keep an eye out for any letters, emails or messages from your heat supplier or metering & billing provider regarding any changes to your tariffs or billing arrangements. And don’t forget to stay connected with us for further updates and information about energy-related support schemes or resources that may benefit you in the future.

As we navigate the end of the EBDS together, our main goal is to make sure that you feel supported and well-informed throughout this transition. We understand that this change might raise some questions or concerns for you, which is why we’ve compiled a range of resources at the bottom of this post. Further information can also be found on our tariff change notification letters. Contact information can also be found there and on the ‘My home’ page.

Additional resources

Government support:

About your heat network:

Find out who your provider is by searching for your development on the ‘My home’ page
If you recently had a change in tariff, you may be able to download a breakdown of your tariff by searching for your development on the ‘My home’ page.