Businesses including from the agriculture sector have been urged to continue to make claims under the €1.3 billion Temporary Business Energy Scheme (TBESS) to cope with rising energy costs.
A total of 10,773 businesses have registered for the scheme, including almost 300 enterprises in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector, Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath said.
The scheme, which was announced as part of Budget 2023, provides qualifying businesses with up to 40% of the increase in electricity or gas bills up to €10,000/month.
To date, 4,392 claims have been approved under the TBESS to the value of €9.5 million, with €9 million already paid out, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney said.
Urging all eligible businesses to submit their claims as early as possible, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan said:
“Electricity and gas prices remain at very high levels due to international conditions, in particular the continuing challenges arising from the crisis in Ukraine, and indications are that this trend will continue for the foreseeable future.
“TBESS provides significant support for a wide range of businesses. Our objective is clear, namely, to support businesses through this unprecedented period in the same way as householders.”
According to the latest provisional data from Revenue, of the 292 registrations submitted under the category for agriculture, forestry and fishing, 60 claims have so far been approved.
A total of 284 of these applications specifically related to farming, according to Revenue.
The value of those claims totals €80,000, with the majority of claims coming from Co. Dublin (22.7%), followed by Cork (12.1%) and Galway (6.1%).
Businesses can make a claim under TBESS, which will run until at least February 2023, if they have experienced an increase of 50% or more in electricity and/or natural gas average unit price.
Claims for September will close at the end of this month, and claims from October onwards can be made after this point within the monthly deadlines.