Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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119. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the funding his Department has provided for the temporary business energy support scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8978/23]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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TBESS is a government grant designed to help businesses with increasing energy costs. The Scheme has been designed by Department of Finance and is being administered by the Revenue Commissioners. However, funding for the Scheme is allocated to the Vote of my Department who provides daily transfers at the request of the Revenue Commissioners.

The Government has allocated €1.3bn for the Scheme. An initial amount of €650m was allocated for 2022 to my Department through the Supplementary Estimates process with an additional €650m provided for in our 2023 Budget Estimates.

As at 16 February over 18,500 applications have been approved to the value of €33 million. I recognise that this Scheme is undersubscribed and I have had extensive engagement with stakeholders to understand why.

As you know the Government reviewed this scheme to see if we can make it more accessible and increase take up by businesses who need it. On Tuesday last the Government announced that TBESS would be amended to ensure more businesses are eligible to apply.

It is now proposed to make the following amendments to the TBESS:

- Extend the end date of the scheme, which is currently 28 February 2023, to 31 May 2023 with an option to further extend it to 31 July 2023 by Ministerial Order.

- Reduce the ‘energy cost threshold’ for the scheme, so a tax compliant business can claim relief where it can demonstrate that the average unit price for electricity or natural gas on the relevant bill has increased by 30 percent or more as compared to the average unit price of electricity or natural gas in the reference period. This revised threshold will be applied on a retrospective basis from September 2022 so businesses who were not previously eligible for the scheme due to the 50 percent energy cost threshold may now be eligible for the scheme.

- Increase, from 1 March 2023, the level of relief from 40 percent of the eligible cost to 50 percent, subject to the monthly limits on aid provided for under the scheme.

- Raise the monthly cap from €10,000 to €15,000 from 1 March onwards.

It should be noted that State aid approval under the "Temporary Crisis Framework for State Aid measures to support the economy following the aggression against Ukraine by Russia” is required before these amendments to TBESS can be implemented.

I have also made a commitment to explore options for provide assistance to businesses who rely on Oil and LPG as their energy source and revert to Government on this matter.