Hope on the horizon for SA small businesses ‘left out in the cold’ waiting almost a year for promised energy bill relief

SA’s small businesses still waiting on a $650 energy rebate for almost a year will soon have a streamlined application process.

Small businesses across SA on embedded power networks will soon have easier access to energy bill rebates promised in last year’s federal budget.

Thousands of small businesses are expected to benefit from the one-off $650 payment with an application form expected to be available later this week, making it easier for businesses to access the scheme.

Des Stapleton from Offe Jewellers in Mount Barker Central Shopping Centre only found out about the rebate recently and welcomed the idea.

“When you ring these people you get shunted over to another phone number then another one and it takes up time and it’s painful,” he said.

“It’d be nice to be able to get that all sorted out and we can grab that and use it to help us.

“It is a bit tight up here at the moment, business is flat and anything that we could get to support us would be absolutely fantastic.”

Small businesses across SA are still waiting on power bill relief promised in last year’s federal budget will soon have easier access to the scheme. Picture: iStock

Last September, Business SA raised concerns that some firms that didn’t have their own metre and bill from an energy retailer would miss out on the rebate, prompting talks between the state government, other states and the federal government about how to roll out the administration of the business concession.

Treasurer Stephen Mulligan told The Advertiser on Sunday that the government had been working to finalise the administration process with energy retailers.

“An embedded network operator will apply for relief from an electricity retailer on behalf of the small businesses on its network. Small businesses do not need to apply directly,” he said.

“Embedded network operators will be able to access the application form from the small business website and there will also be link to the application form from the Energy Relief fund page on sa.gov.au.”

The rebate is available to small businesses that consume less than 160 MWh of electricity each year.

Under the scheme, an embedded network operator will apply for relief from an electricity retailer on behalf of the small businesses on its network.

“Upon receipt of the application, the electricity retailer will apply a bulk credit to the embedded network operator’s next electricity bill, equivalent to the number of eligible businesses on its embedded network,” Mr Mulligan said.

“The embedded operator will then pass on the bill relief to each eligible small business on its embedded network in their next bill.

At least 47,000 small businesses have already benefited from the rebate, under a $254.4m jointly funded agreement between state and federal governments.

Shadow Treasurer Matt Cowdrey said the delay was a “complete break of faith” for small businesses who had been “left out in the cold.”

“Small businesses are doing it incredibly tough at the moment and they need all the support they can get,” he said.

“Peter Malinauskas was quick to announce these rebates but more than a year later and

thousands of small businesses still haven’t received the promised support.

“The Premier famously said when it comes to cost of living relief ‘nine times out of ten it’s

bulls**t’ and it seems he was right.”