In the first instance, it was not previously committed to but let me explain why, please. As part of a review of the operation of the temporary business energy support scheme earlier this year, it was agreed that my Department would examine the possibility of developing an additional support scheme for businesses that use kerosene and LPG for the purposes of heating their business premises. This was in recognition of the fact that many businesses, particularly in rural areas, are not connected to the natural gas network and therefore could not avail of TBESS, as outlined by the Deputy.
In the interests of fairness, it was necessary to ensure that any new scheme would align with the parameters, at least closely, of TBESS, i.e. business energy costs would have to have increased by at least 30% for businesses to qualify. Data on the pricing trends showed that kerosene prices increased by an average of 88% following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This justified the creation of a scheme for businesses that use this fuel. That scheme is now currently open. The price of LPG, however, only increased by 19% during the same period. It was therefore concluded that there was not sufficient justification for the development of a support scheme for LPG users because we have to get state aid approval from the European Commission in order to do that. In order to get state aid approval we have to show that there was a significant price increase. The data does not show that for LPG, I am afraid. I was more than happy to do it if the data had shown a more than 30% increase, and there was no problem with the money.
The business users support scheme for kerosene was launched on 6 September once we got state aid approval and will be open for applications until 31 October, which is this month. Eligible businesses will receive a payment to reimburse them for half of their increased costs in the period from March to December 2022. Details of how to apply are available online at bussk.ie and I encourage all eligible businesses to apply before the deadline.
If I may add to that, our understanding of the data we have got from representative bodies and so on is that there are more than 20,000 businesses which use kerosene and are potentially eligible for this scheme. Only a very small fraction of that number have applied to date. This is a very straightforward scheme to apply for and I very much encourage people to support businesses which had a kerosene bill which increased during that period to apply for that scheme. It is a generous, supportive scheme and is easy to apply for but applications need to be in before the end of this month.