In the Spring Budget, the Government announced a two-year extension to the current Climate Change Agreement (CCA) scheme, with precise terms now out for consultation.

Eligible businesses that sign a CCA receive a discount to the Climate Change Levy (CCL), the tax added to electricity and fuel bills, in return for reducing their energy use and carbon emissions in line with agreed targets.

Discounts represent considerable savings and are currently 92% for electricity, 81% for natural gas, and 77% for LPG.

New targets will be put in place from January 2021, allowing the extension of the scheme beyond its current March 2023 end date to March 2025. In addition, the scheme will be open to new eligible businesses for the first time since October 2018. Government is also considering the potential for a future scheme beyond March 2025.

So, if you are not already part of the CCA scheme, now is a good time to consider joining to gain access to those vital CCL discounts while becoming more energy-efficient and cutting carbon emissions. The deadline for new applications to the Environment Agency (EA) is 30 September 2020.

The NFU is the trade association responsible for the horticulture, pig and poultry CCA schemes. NFU Energy administers the schemes for the NFU and provides expert help and guidance to members of the scheme. For more information please visit the NFU energy website or call 024 7669 6512. For those wishing to benefit from the support and guidance of NFU Energy in the submission of their application, the deadline to send it to them is 31 August 2020.

Author: Steve Leil, Compliance Scheme Manager at NFU energy