The trade association insists printers could save well over £10,000 and has been working hard to get as many eligible companies onto its scheme before the deadline on 31 July 2018.

“Energy prices are currently going through the roof and this scheme is one of the few ways of mitigating these increases,” said BPIF commercial products manager Steve Walker.

The BPIF has contacted companies with more than 50 employees, both members and non-members, in order to explain the application requirements.

He said he had visited about 80 companies since October and was surprised by how many were still struggling with the paperwork.

“The scheme is saving the industry around £7m a year for the 250 companies on it, but we are finding many don't have the people to go through the paperwork.”

Calculations include energy uses in the product area versus the rest of the site. Discounts, meanwhile, are made only if energy efficiency improvements are made.

It is estimated the companies visited could save a total of £550,000 in the current year. With the levy set to increase considerably next year, that annual saving will rise to £846,971 from April.

By not joining the scheme, those companies could be risking a loss of £3.9m on energy bills over the life of the scheme.

Walker, who has managed the scheme since its introduction in 2001, is encouraging companies to take advantage.

“It’s surprising that companies who can save more than £10,000 a year are finding it difficult to spare the resource to complete the paperwork.

“However, we can help do this, so any company that is finding resource an issue should just give us a call.

“Upwards of £70,000 over the next five years could be saved under the BPIF CCL reduction scheme, and that’s not a saving to be sniffed at.”

Acorn Web Offset joined the scheme after the BPIF helped simplify the application process for it. Managing director Mark Roberts said that for print businesses with a significant energy spend “it's the absolute no brainer”.