Emergency Contacts | Evolve Energy | Independent Energy Supply Company

This e-guide explains the rates at which Value Added Tax (VAT) and Climate Change Levy (CCL) are chargeable on electricity and gas supplies.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

In line with current legislation (VAT Act 1994 as amended), there are two rates of VAT applicable to supplies of electricity and gas used for business or non-domestic purposes:

the standard rate
the reduced rate

Where an electricity or gas supply is used wholly or partly for domestic or charitable non-business use, that part of the supply qualifies for the reduced rate of VAT. This is known as

'qualifying use'.

Customers with qualifying use are required to submit a separate Customer Declaration Certificate for each supply, to advise us what percentage is used for domestic or charitable on-business purposes.

Climate Change Levy (CCL)

CCL is a government-imposed tax to encourage reduction in gas emissions and greater efficiency of energy used for business or non-domestic purposes.

CCL is chargeable only on units/kWh used and not on any other component of the bill such as fixed daily charges.

Separate rates have been set for electricity and gas. These are now indexed-linked and therefore likely to increase on 1 April each year.

Under current legislation:

where VAT is charged at the standard rate, CCL (plus VAT on CCL) will usually be added to the bill
where VAT is charged at the reduced rate, the supply is automatically excluded from CCL
these rules are applied automatically at the time of billing

All other business customers entitled to CCL relief must submit a PP11

Supplier Certificate for each supply covered, to advise us what percentage of CCL relief is applicable. PP11s can be downloaded from the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) website: www.hmrc.gov.uk.

This will enable non-domestic consumers and their nominated third parties to request free access to (up to) 12 months of their historic smart meter energy use data in a machine-readable format via the internet. As per the policy, we will respond to data access requests within 10 working days, either granting data access (where all legal requirements are met) or clearly outlining why the request has been rejected and next steps.

Where does our electricity come from?

Our Fuel Mix shows where our electricity comes from. We are required by Ofgem to disclose our fuel mix and any part of electricity purchased for supply that we do not hold relevant evidence for is derived from the Residual Fuel Mix.

Evolve Energy Supply Limited Fuel Mix Disclosure relates to total electricity supplied in the period 1st April 2024 to 31st March 2025, and are as follows:

*Source is Fuel mix disclosure data table (publishing.service.gov.uk) 4. UK fuel mix (for comparison).

The Residual Fuel Mix is taken from the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero Fuel Mix Disclosure Data Table.

Business or non-domestic use

If your electricity or gas supply is used solely for business or non-domestic purposes, VAT will usually be charged at the standard rate and CCL (plus VAT on CCL) will also be added to the bill

Low usage business or non-domestic use

Under a government concession, 'low usage' of electricity and gas for business or non-domestic purposes is chargeable at the reduced rate of VAT. These supplies are automatically excluded from CCL.

The low usage thresholds are:

electricity - at or below 33 units per day during the bill period
gas - at or below 145 kWh per day during the bill period

Where more than one meter is billed on an account, consumption across all meters is combined in order to take into account the total quantity supplied through all relevant meters.

There is no requirement for the customer to claim the reduced rate of VAT or exclusion from CCL on low usage as these concessions are applied automatically at the time of each billing.

Domestic or charitable nonbusiness use (qualifying use)

If your electricity or gas supply is used wholly or partly for domestic or charitable non-business purposes, that part of the supply qualifies for the reduced rate of VAT and for exclusion from CCL. This is known as qualifying use.

The percentage of qualifying use can vary between energy supplies to the same site. Customers are therefore required to submit a separate Customer Declaration Certificate per fuel, per account, to advise us what percentage of each supply meets the qualifying criteria (set by the government).

See pages 4 and 5 for further details regarding which activities do and do not meet the government's qualifying criteria to be considered as domestic or charitable non-business use.

We cannot assume a percentage of qualifying use on behalf of the customer. In the absence of a valid Customer Declaration Certificate, supplies will be charged VAT and CCL at the rates appropriate to business or non-domestic use. Where there is both qualifying and non-qualifying use of the supply, this is known as

'mixed use'. Please refer to

the mixed use section on page 6 for further details.

We will make available free, user-accessible energy use information to customers within the scope of the Default Data Offer. Customers are required to contact our Account Services team on account.services@evolve-energy.com or by calling 0843 504 7799 to confirm they wish to access their data. You will be asked to verify your identity or provide a letter of authority if you are a TPI acting on behalf of a customer. Our AS team will provide a login to a hosted data portal to allow you to retrieve your half-hourly (electricity/gas) data retrieved from the AMR meter.

The Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme is a government programme designed to promote the uptake of small-scale renewable and low carbon electricity generation technologies.

The scheme was introduced in April 2010 and requires participating licensed electricity suppliers to make payments on both generation and export from eligible installations. The FIT scheme is available for anyone who has installed, or is looking to install, one of the following technology types up to a capacity of 5MW, or 2Kw for micro-CHP:

Solar photovoltaic (PV)
Wind
Micro combined heat and power (CHP)
Hydro
Anaerobic digestion (AD)

All Licensed Electricity Suppliers are required to participate in some aspects of the FIT scheme, including declaring their FIT status annually and taking part in the periodic and annual levelisation process.

Licensed electricity suppliers cannot offer FIT to customers unless they are confirmed to be a FIT licensee for which their status must be confirmed to Ofgem by 14th February each year based on one of the following three categories:

Mandatory FIT licensee – Any supplier that has at least 250,000 domestic customers as at 31 December of the immediately preceding FIT year
Voluntary FIT licensee – Any supplier that has less then 250,000 domestic customers but elect to register and make FIT payments to certain eligible generators
Non-FIT licensee – for the FIT year starting on 1 April following the FIT notification

For more information on the scheme and how to apply please follow this link to the Ofgem website.

BPG’s status is presently a Non-FIT licensee.

Our Customer Services team aim to resolve your complaint straight away but if they can’t, they’ll acknowledge your complaint in writing. We endeavour to respond to your complaint within 10 working days. You can contact the team in one of the following ways:

Call: 0843 504 7799

Email: account.services@evolve-energy.com

Post: Evolve Energy, Jubilee House, Lytham, FY8 5FT

If your complaint takes longer, we will regularly update you with our next steps and agree with you the following method of contact.

In the 2015 Autumn Statement, the Government announced its intent to reduce the impact of renewables policies on the costs of electricity for the most Energy Intensive Industries (EIIs).

This proposal would see EIIs exempt from a significant proportion1 of the costs of the Renewables Obligation (RO) and the Small Scale Feed-in Tariff (ss-FiT), in order to ensure that they maintain their competitiveness internationally. EII’s are currently entitled to cash compensation from the cost of these schemes (i.e. they pay the costs but receive compensation from the Government). From April 2017, it is proposed that this would change to a direct exemption at source; however, this is subject to State Aid Approval.

Under this exemption, companies operating in sectors such as metal casting, heavy manufacturing and mining will benefit, but non-exempt customers will pay extra to cover the cost of the exemptions. This cross-subsidy will put further upward pressure on prices for these non-EII customers.

What are EII’s?

EII’s are Energy Intensive Industries which include sectors such as mining and heavy manufacturing, and are distinguished by their trade and electricity intensity.

What is the potential impact for non-exempt customers?

It is estimated that approximately 17TWh will be exempt from the Renewables Obligation (RO) and Feed In Tariff (FiT), with non-eligible customers expected to absorb the extra costs. This policy could add approximately £1.10/MWh to the RO forecast and around £0.30/MWh to the FiT forecast. This would mean an increase from current rates upwards of 6.3% and 6.4% for RO and FiT respectively. Costs will be recovered through the invoice charges of non-exempt customers.

What types of supply are considered to be charitable non-business use?

Although you must either be a registered charity or have your charitable status recognised by HMRC, that in itself is not deemed to be an automatic qualifying use. There is no general VAT relief for charities on electricity and gas supplies. However, legislation does provide specific relief for the nonbusiness activities of a charity, whereby that part of the supply is seen as a qualifying use. If you are a registered charity and the supply is used for domestic purposes, your declaration should be on the basis of domestic use. See page 4.

More detailed information can be obtained from:

HMRC: www.hmrc.gov.uk

HMRC National Advice Centre: 0845 0100 9000.

See the following HMRC VAT notices available from their website:

701/1 - Charities

701/5 - Clubs and Associations

701/30 - Education

701/35 - Youth Clubs

If you’re not entirely happy with the way your complaint has been handled, contact us through the most convenient method to you as in Stage One, stating that you would like your complaint escalated to a Manager. One of our Managers will review your complaint and attempt to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Similar to Stage One, we endeavour to update you within 10 working days. A longer time may be required for more complicated complaints, but we’ll keep you up to date with how we’re progressing.

Smart meters are replacing traditional gas and electricity meters in homes, small businesses and schools across Great Britain as part of an important upgrade to the national energy infrastructure and underpinning the cost-effective delivery of Government’s net zero commitment.

The rollout of smart meters to non-domestic sites within the mandate is estimated to lead to £1.5 billion of energy consumption reductions[1], driven by these consumers engaging with their smart meter data and identifying ways to reduce their energy use.

In order to drive forward further innovation and provide customers will access to their data, the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero have introduced policy changes to improve the smart meter data offer for non-domestic consumers. The scope of the policy changes apply to all customers to smaller businesses where the site supplies is in electricity profile classes 1-4 or with gas consumption below 732 MWh per annum.

These policy changes consist of:

On-request data offer: This will enable non-domestic consumers and their nominated third parties to request free access to (up to) 12 months of their historic smart meter energy use data in a machine-readable format via the internet. As per the policy, we will respond to data access requests within 10 working days, either granting data access (where all legal requirements are met) or clearly outlining why the request has been rejected and next steps.

Default data offer: We will make available free, user-accessible energy use information to customers within the scope of the Default Data Offer. Customers are required to contact our Account Services team on account.services@bpgenergy.com or by calling 0843 504 7799 to confirm they wish to access their data. You will be asked to verify your identity or provide a letter of authority if you are a TPI acting on behalf of a customer. Our AS team will provide a login to a hosted data portal to allow you to retrieve your half-hourly (electricity/gas) data retrieved from the AMR meter.

Awareness raising requirements with respect to data: We will regularly raise customer awareness of the routes by which you can access your smart meter energy use data for free.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smart-meter-roll-out-cost-benefit-analysis-2019

Moving a portfolio from an incumbent supplier can be a cause for concern. However we want everyone in the process to feel confident. Transfer readings form a big part of the Consultant and Customer’s consideration in transferring energy supplier especially for large multi-site portfolios. Evolve Energy, for example, can provide details of the D0086 electricity transfer readings to demonstrate that we will always raise our invoices to these readings despite the outgoing supplier often using estimates. This empowers our Partners to validate invoices which we consider to be vital for them to know that our billing is accurate.

Where there is a mix of activities, some of which meet the government's criteria for domestic or charitable non-business use and some which do not, you will need to estimate the split between qualifying and non-qualifying use, for each individual meter, in order to submit the appropriate VAT declaration. Your estimate can be based on any method that is 'fair and reasonable', such as rating of appliances, annual consumption or square footage. Charities can use their annual accounts to estimate the split between 'non-business' funding and 'business' income.

In all cases, you must be able to demonstrate to HMRC (if required), that any VAT declaration you submit, represents a valid qualifying use.

Currently:

Where there is 60% or more qualifying use (either domestic or charitable non-business), the whole of the supply is chargeable at the reduced rate of VAT and is excluded from CCL. Your Customer Declaration Certificate should, however, reflect your best estimate of the actual percentage of qualifying use for each meter as, under HMRC guidelines, we cannot accept wording such as 'over 60%, therefore 100%' - or similar - and will have to return the certificate to you for further clarification.
Where there is between 1-59% qualifying use (either domestic or charitable non-business), that part of the supply will be charged at the reduced rate of VAT and will automatically be excluded from CCL. The non-qualifying use will be subject to VAT and CCL at the appropriate business / non-domestic rate.

Declaration forms:

Customers with qualifying use are required to submit a separate Customer Declaration Certificate for each supply, to advise us what percentage is used for domestic or charitable nonbusiness purposes.

Important information

VAT Customer Declaration Certificates and PP11 Supplier Certificates are not transferable between suppliers. When changing suppliers, you should ensure that the appropriate certificates are submitted to your new supplier, advising the percentage of relief which is applicable to each supply. Once accepted, your declaration will remain valid indefinitely. If there is a change in your qualifying use, you should notify us by submitting a revised Customer Declaration Certificate. Any false statement or failure to notify us of a change in qualifying use may make you liable to a financial penalty under the VAT Act 1994 (as amended from time to time).

If your customer wants to protect their commodity exposure and purchase energy on a long term horizon but they cannot access a long term flexible framework because of their credit position, we’re often able to help. We will explore numerous options to give the customer what they want if we can mitigate our credit exposure. This can include cash margining to cover the mark-to-market risk and advance payment or a combination of both.

The Energy Ombudsman will only consider conducting a full review if we have been provided an adequate opportunity to resolve your complaint. The Energy Ombudsman will only investigate your complaint if the following circumstances apply:

You have received a Deadlock letter from us; or
At least 8 weeks have passed since you first made the complaint to us. If you contact the Energy Ombudsman before either of these requirements, they will refer your complaint back to us for further action.

If you need independent advice you can contact Citizens Advice. The Citizens Advice consumer service provides free and independent help and advice to small businesses, assisting with a wide range of issues from contracting to making a complaint, or providing general advice for business concerns such as debt management and affordability.

The Citizens Advice phone number is 0808 223 1133 for England and 0808 223 1144 for a Welsh language service.

Alternatively, you can visit their website at www.citizensadvice.org.uk/energy/. Their service is free, independent and confidential.

If you live in Scotland you can contact Advice Direct Scotland; their website is https://energyadvice.scot/ or contact them by phone on 0808 196 8660.

National Grid are aiming to provide advanced notification of any planned power cut, to allow businesses to plan ahead. Each distribution area across the UK is divided into 18 blocks which are made up of a number of discrete geographical areas. Each block is assigned an alphabetic letter, known as an ‘Alpha Identifier’. The blocks are allocated to the slots and are designed to allow businesses in any given block to operate as normally as possible for 3 days in succession. This means that power cuts will either be concentrated between Monday and Wednesday, or Thursday and Saturday with Sunday being shared between all blocks. Customers should speak to their insurance companies to understand if any losses are covered.

We request that if you believe you fall under the category of a vulnerable customer in your business activities, that you register for the ‘Priority Services Register’. A vulnerable customer could be someone classified as elderly or medically dependent on electricity (e.g., dialysis machines). Registering for the Priority Services Register can be done by either contacting your local network operator or by e-mailing account.services@bpgenergy.com to allow us to register you on Evolve Energy’s Priority Services Register and with the industry.

Gas Emergency Number

National Gas Emergency Service

Electricity Emergency Numbers

National Power Cut Helpline

VAT and CCL explained

On-Request Data Offer

Fuel Mix Disclosure

Do you work with Brokers?

Types of use explained

Do you work with independent generators

Default Data Offer

Feed-in Tariff

My organisation doesn’t use the services of a Consultant/TPI, so can I deal with you directly?

Domestic use

Access to premises

Awareness Raising Requirements With Respect To Data

Stage One

Energy intensive industries

Charitable non-business use

How can you help us convert more of our customers to flexible purchasing arrangements to mitigate commodity exposure?

Stage Two

Non-Domestic Smart Meter Data

How do you onboard a major customer portfolio and how do you keep risk to a minimum?

Mixed use

My client cannot access a long-term flexible framework because of their credit position – can you help?

Final Stage

Energy Ombudsman

Independent Advice

Can you integrate Sleeved PPA's into a customer supply position

Can you facilitate Licence Exempt Supply?

UK Power Networks (Eastern England)

Western Power Distribution plc (East Midlands)

What is industry modification P442?

UK Power Networks (London)

SP Energy Networks (Merseyside, Cheshire, North Wales)

Western Power Distribution plc (West Midlands)

Northern Powergrid Limited (North East)

Electricity North West Limited (North West)

Scottish & Southern Energy (North Scotland)

SP Energy Networks (Central and Southern Scotland)

UK Power Networks (South East)

Scottish & Southern Energy (Southern England)

Western Power Distribution plc (South Wales)

Western Power Distribution plc (South West England)

Northern Powergrid Limited (Yorkshire)

What is an Alpha Identifier?

Where is the Alpha Identifier located on Evolve Energy’s invoices?

What if I don’t have an Alpha Identifier on my invoice?

Why is it necessary to implement Emergency Power Cuts?

How should businesses plan ahead?

What is a protected customer?

Process for applying to be a Protected Site

What if I classify as a Vulnerable Customer?

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