The Government increased Climate Change Levy (CCL) rates on 1 April 2012. This means that for any energy used where CCL applies, it will be charged for at the new rate.
The new CCL rates are:
0.509p/kWh for electricity
0.177p/kWh for gas
What is CCL?
The Government first introduced CCL in April 2001 – it’s a tax on energy used by businesses and other organisations. It’s part of a range of measures designed to help the UK meet its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
What does this mean to your business?
From 1 April 2012 you’ll see the new charges for CCL on your bill for your electricity and gas consumption.
What happens if your bill spans the CCL rate changes?
If your bill is for a period that crosses the CCL rate change, both the old and new rate will be shown and you’ll be charged the correct rate for the date the energy was used.
When do you need to pay CCL?
You’ll only have to pay CCL if you use 3,000kWh or more of electricity or 13,335kWh or more of gas per quarter. If you don’t use this much energy, you won’t be charged CCL.
Remember, you may have to pay a CCL Equivalent Charge, in which case you’ll be exempt from paying CCL (CCL Equivalent Charge and CCL are charged at the same rate). If this is the case and your circumstances subsequently change, we may need to switch back to charging you CCL and stop charging you the CCL Equivalent Charge.
Circumstances that would trigger this would be:
- a move to a domestic product or tariff,
- a move to Smart Pay As You Go or Half Hourly metering,
- application of a full or partial VAT Declaration or CCL Exemption form.
If the switch happens in the middle of a billing period we will need to split your charges, in which case you may see both CCL and a CCL Equivalent Charge on that bill.
