You do not need to apply, and there’s no need to contact your energy supplier.

For consumers in England, Scotland and Wales who pay for their energy through a monthly, quarterly or other regular bill, the Energy Price Guarantee will be applied when your bill is calculated.

No. All eligible households will still get a £400 discount to their bills in addition to benefitting from the Energy Price Guarantee. You can find out more about EBSS here.

Yes, energy suppliers will adjust fixed tariffs automatically. Customers on fixed tariffs do not need to take any action to get the benefits of this scheme. Any transfer to a different tariff is a matter for suppliers.

For customers on fixed rate tariffs, a ‘floor’ unit price for gas averaging at 10.3p/kWh and for electricity averaging at 34p/kWh for direct debit customers will also come into effect on 1^st October 2022. There is a floor price because some people will have fixed at much lower prices some time ago, meaning their annual payments will already be below the £2,500 average set by the Energy Price Guarantee.

Unit price reductions of up to 17p/kWh for electricity and 4.2p/kWh for gas will apply to fixed tariff customers to bring their rates down to, but not below, the floor unit price. Customers on fixed rate tariffs that are already below the floor unit prices will continue to enjoy those low rates, but will not receive a further discount for the duration of their fixed term.

For the small number of consumers who fixed at a high rate exceeding the October Ofgem price cap of £3,549, they will receive the full discount of 17p for electricity and 4.2p for gas. However, given the higher starting point, their fixed rate tariff will still have a unit rate that is above the EPG rates. This will ensure that a fair price is paid by everyone.

The average unit price for dual fuel customers paying by direct debit will be limited to 34.0p/kWh for electricity and 10.3p/kWh for gas, inclusive of VAT, from 1^st October.

These unit prices have been passed to suppliers to ensure that they are used to calculate bills on time for 1^st October.

Energy suppliers will adjust standard variable tariffs automatically. Customers on standard variable tariffs do not need to take any action to get the benefits of this scheme.

Yes, for pre–payment meter customers, the Energy Price Guarantee will be applied to the rate you pay for each unit of energy, so the money you put on the meter will last longer than would otherwise have been the case this winter.

As is the case with the ‘price cap’ under the Energy Price Guarantee there will continue to be a small difference between the unit cost for a pre-payment meter customer and other bill payers.

Average standing charges will remain in line with the levels set by Ofgem for the default tariff cap from 1^st October, at 46p per day for electricity and 28p per day for gas, for a typical dual fuel customer paying by direct debit.

The Energy Price Guarantee is applied per unit of gas or electricity used for households with a domestic electricity connection, so will be applied if your landlord has a domestic electricity contract with a licensed electricity supplier.

Your landlord may be reselling the electricity to you based on your usage, in which case:

• they must comply with the maximum resale price rules which say they must not make a profit.
• the maximum resale price for electricity is currently set at the same price as that paid by the person reselling it (see Ofgem’s guidance on ensuring customers are being charged no more than they should).

Your landlord may charge an ‘all inclusive’ rent, where a fixed cost for energy usage is included in your rental charges, in which case:

• they are encouraged to come to an agreement with you on the Energy Price Guarantee in line with the arrangement in your tenancy agreement, and we are exploring a full range of options to ensure this happens, including using the planned emergency legislation.
• the landlord’s fixed charge may already provide you with similar protection from the impact of energy price increases.

Providing support to businesses:

While the majority of UK non–domestic customers are on fixed price energy deals, some are not. Businesses did not benefit from the Ofgem price cap and there was a risk that some would fall through the gap, unable to fix their energy price and unable to access the kind of support we are making available to households.

A new 6 month scheme for businesses and other non–domestic energy users (including charities and public sector organisations like schools) will be offered support as is being provided for consumers.

After this initial 6 month scheme, the government will provide ongoing focused support for vulnerable industries.

There will be a review in 3 months’ time to consider where this should be targeted to make sure those most in need get support.

Further details will be published shortly.