Almost 300 enterprises in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector registered applications for the government’s Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS).
The TBESS, as announced in Budget 2023, is aimed at helping businesses, including dairy and pig enterprises for instance, with their energy costs during the winter months.
The scheme, which is being administered by Revenue, provides for a cash payment to qualifying businesses.
According to the latest provisional data from Revenue, 292 applications were registered from agri, forestry and fishing enterprises.
TBESS
Of the 292 registrations submitted under the category for agriculture, forestry and fishing, 60 claims have so far been approved according to Revenue. 284 of these applications specifically related to farming.
The value of those claims totals €80,000.
The criteria to qualify to apply to the TBESS is as follows:
- Must be tax compliant;
- Carries on a Case I trade or Case II profession;
- And experienced a significant increase of 50% or more in its electricity and/or natural gas average unit price.
The TBESS operates in respect of energy costs for the period September 1, 2022 to February 28, 2023.
Claims may be made in respect of each calendar month within this timeframe, according to Revenue. Each enterprise may make more than one claim, depending on the frequency of its energy bills (e.g., monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly bills).
The majority of claims are from Dublin (22.7%), followed by Cork (12.1%) and Galway (6.1%).