Recommendation 14

The Department acknowledged that it knew less about the non–domestic sector than the domestic sector at the time of the interventions and that this “threw up a number of issues and complexities”.33 It told us that targeting the non–domestic sector was a challenge because of “level of data to allow us to categorise non–domestic suppliers into particular groups”. Although it used standard classifications of industry to understand which sectors 24 Q 12 25 Q 30 26 Q 13 27 EBS0001; EBS0008 28 Qq 13, 17 29 Q 13 30 Q 13 31 Q 31 32 EBS0008 33 Q 46 10 were particularly exposed to high energy costs, and which were more energy–intensive, the Department said there were “limitations around that data in the way it groups different sets of customers”.34 The Department’s poor understanding of the non–domestic sector led to it providing identical support for all businesses.35 Small businesses, however, do not have the buying power of some of the larger non–domestic customers to get good deals, and have a variety of contracts and arrangements.36 Some small businesses with high energy usage such as hospitality may have also missed out on additional support that they needed before the government began to target businesses deemed to be energy and trade intensive in March 2024.37 The Department said that it would want to target a future scheme more precisely using its “understanding of the different exposure that different parts of the sector had” to high energy prices.38 Identifying consumers most in need