Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reasons the energy price cap was originally unavailable to businesses who signed their contract before April 1, 2022.

Following additional evidence on high wholesale energy prices prior to April 2022, the eligibility criteria for the Energy Bill Relief Scheme was extended to include all fixed contracts signed from 1 December 2021. This is to ensure a fair and equitable scheme, where support offered to businesses and other non-domestic energy users covers all recent energy price increases, helping those businesses that have seen increased bills for a sustained period.