'Act Now' to Claim an 80% Reduction on Your Climate Change Levy says BPF Director-General

The British Plastics Federation (BPF) is in the final stages of entering into a Climate Change Agreement (BPF CCA) for the Plastics Sector with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). This Agreement has the potential to save the UK plastics industry over £50 million per annum in Climate Change Levy payments until the year 2017.

For companies with a qualifying site in the UK the Agreement can result in an 80% discount on the Climate Change Levy (CCL) they pay on electricity and LPG. This scheme will be attractive to companies consuming in excess of 250,000 kWh per annum.

Strict entry deadlines have been put in place by DECC and the BPF Director-General is calling on all plastics firms to act now to start the registration process for claiming their levy discount.

'At last the plastics sector has been put on a level playing field with other materials that already have CCAs. Furthermore, the discount afforded by a CCA will go straight back into investment to improve further the efficiency and competitiveness of the industry. If companies are to benefit from this unique opportunity they must act now and begin the registration process. So far almost 100 companies have had the foresight to apply for the scheme and will benefit from the discount from the earliest possible opportunity.'

If companies start the application process now they may benefit from the CCA discount as of the entry date of 1st October 2009. The absolute cut-off for DECC accepting completed CCA Applications for the current scheme year is 31 October 2009 and if companies miss this deadline then the next entry point to the scheme will be 1 April 2011.

Companies wishing to join the CCA must go to www.bpfenergy.co.uk where they can download the application form. Once completed this should be emailed to [email protected]

BPF members companies will receive a further benefit of a 50% discount on their participation fees as CCA Partners.

ENDS

For further information on this press release, please contact Anthony Roberts, British Plastics Federation, 6 Bath Place, Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3JE, tel 020 7457 5043, fax 020 7457 5045, email: [email protected]

Notes for editors:

1) British Plastics Federation (BPF) is the UK trade association for the plastics industry - representing the whole supply chain including polymer producers, distributors, additives suppliers, machinery manufacturers, processors and recyclers.
2) BPF Energy administers the Climate Change Agreement for plastics processors on behalf of the BPF and is supported by Inenco.