Applications for the Government’s Energy Bills Discount Scheme have opened April 26 and eligible organisations now have 90 days to make an application. Please find below the relevant information to assist you in an application where applicable.

Full information and application guidelines can be found here.

As you will be aware, your operations need to cover at least one of the eligible sectors as identified by the Government in it’s Energy and Trade Intensive Industries list. For the CLUK membership, this covers:

• Library and archive activities
• Museum activities
• Operation of historical sites and buildings and similar visitor attractions
• Botanical and zoological gardens and nature reserve activities

To identify whether your activity of the above sectors is eligible, you would need to prove:

• As an organisation, at least 50% of revenue is generated from the activity OR
• For local authorities, eligibility may be determined at a premise level. Where there are no relevant financial accounts, the local authority will be required to declare that at least 50% of the space within that premise is taken up by operations within eligible sectors.

For those organisations who have dual-use venues where part of your venue is used or would cover an eligible sector and / or where you believe you are eligible and your LA still owns the building, we would encourage you to get in touch with your local authority to discuss the options of applying for the Energy Bills Discount Scheme. The discount will apply to 70% of energy volumes.

We are still seeking guidance on what the above means for organisations who operate out of historical buildings (whether listed or not) but where the main activity is not part of the approved SIC activities. We will update you as soon as we have confirmation on this.

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