Claims worth €870,000 under the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS) have been approved for businesses in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector.
As of February 1, a total of 1,587 businesses in the sector have registered for the scheme, of which 714 claims have been approved, according to Revenue.
Agri businesses have already been paid €610,000 in total under the TBESS, which supports qualifying businesses with increases in their electricity or natural gas costs.
The majority of applicants from the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector applying for Revenue’s energy support scheme had between one and nine employees.
Agri businesses of this size accounted for 741 registrations, of which 356 have been approved at a value of €350,000. In addition, €260,000 have been paid to date.
A breakdown by business size also shows that 719 applicants from the sector had no employees with 266 approved claims worth €100,000, according to Revenue figures.
Businesses with between 10 and 49 employees accounted for 109 applications, while 18 registrations came from businesses with over 50 staff. The number of approved claims and their value stand at 79 and €320,000, and 13 and €90,000 respectively.
TBESS
Of all economic sectors making claims under the scheme, Co. Dublin accounted for 44.3% of all applications, followed by Cork at 27% and Galway at 12.6%.
Retail trade accounted for most applications at 4,806 registrations and 3,876 approved claims, according to figures published by Revenue.
The TBESS operates in respect of energy costs for the period from September 1, 2022 to February 28, 2023. Claims may be made in respect of each calendar month within this time frame.
Businesses which have experienced an increase of 50% or more in their electricity or gas unit price in the reference period can claim up to 40% of the increase in their energy bills back.