What is the Hospitality Energy Rebate Program?
The Hospitality Energy Rebate Program is an initiative to assist impacted Tasmanian hospitality businesses with their energy costs.
Background
The Tasmanian Government recognises public health restrictions -due to COVID-19, have impacted on a significant number of hospitality businesses in Tasmania.
A one-off rebate payment is available to eligible businesses (up to a capped amount), to assist with energy bills for both gas and electricity for the period of July to September 2020.
Eligible businesses must be able to demonstrate a 30 per cent or more decline in turnover between April and June 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
Funding
To ensure that the Tasmanian Government continues to be responsive to businesses across Tasmania, $10 million has been allocated to assist impacted Tasmanian hospitality businesses with their energy costs. Should eligible applications to the program exceed $10 million, rebates will be offered at reduced scale and on a pro-rata basis across all applications to the funding cap of $10 million.
Businesses will be rebated based on 2018-19 annual turnover against the following scale:
- $50k to $200k up to $1,000
- $200k to $500k up to $2,000
- $500K to $3m up to $5,000
- $3m to $5m up to $7,500
- $5m to $10m up to $10,000
Please note businesses whose energy bills are less than the maximum rebate will receive a reimbursement to the value of the valid electricity and/or gas bill.
Eligibility
To be eligible, all businesses must:
- Be a recognised hospitality business where the main function of the business is hospitality services, including in-house (seated) dining or beverage services. For example, a restaurant, café, bar or club with an eat-in dining or drinking offering.
- Have been operating since 1 January 2019. (Note: Businesses that were established after that date but that meet the remainder of the eligibility criteria may be considered eligible.)
- Be primarily based and operating within Tasmania.
- Hold an Australian Business Number (ABN) – this ABN must be for the applicant business, have been active on or before 12 March 2020 and continues to be active at the time of applying for the rebate.
- Be registered for GST.
- Can demonstrate a 30 per cent or more decline in turnover during April-June 2020, compared to April-June 2019.
Please note where a business owner has multiple businesses and multiple ABNs, they are eligible to apply for each hospitality venue.
In order for an application to be deemed eligible, supporting documentation to demonstrate the eligibility must be provided (include all pages).
Supporting documents required includes:
- Evidence of business registration and either food license and/or liquor license to demonstrate you operate a hospitality business with seated dining or beverage services.
- Evidence of payment of metered electricity or gas supply bills during July-September 2020.
- A profit and loss statement, tax return, Business Activity Statement (BAS) or other suitable documentation for the 2018-19 April to June quarter, along with the same quarter for 2019-20 – required to demonstrate evidence of a 30 percent decline in turnover for the period April to June 2020
- A profit and loss statement, tax return, or other suitable documentation for the applicant entity for the 2018-19 or 2019-20 financial year – required to verify your annual turnover level.
Timing
Applications close 29 January 2021.
