Archive for March, 2010

Budget boost for small businesses

25 March 2010
Small businesses were named as winners in Darling's budget.

Small businesses were named as winners in Darling's budget.

Small businesses were among those named as ‘winners’ in Alistair Darling’s budget yesterday. A £2.5bn growth package, financed by a one-off tax on bankers’ bonuses, was announced in what is widely believed to be Darling’s last budget.

A cut in business rates and a freeze on capital gains tax were also announced, while the investment allowance for small businesses was raised to £100,00 – double its current level.

This will be welcome news to small businesses, many of whom are still struggling to stay on their feet following the end of the recession, with the high cost of utilities such as business gas and business electricity cited by many as among the biggest stumbling blocks.

Keeping track of overheads such as commercial electricity or gas is a delicate balancing act and even as we move out of winter and turn the heating down, most small and medium sized businesses remain concerned about ever-increasing prices.

Switching your business electricity or business gas supplier is one of the easiest ways to bring your business overheads down and save you money. By using an independent advisor such as Energy Advice Line you can take the hard work out of comparing and switching suppliers.

Energy Advice Line enables you to weigh up the prices from leading suppliers of commercial gas and electricity and also provides a star rating system of terms and conditions so that you can quickly understand the often mind-boggling small print and choose the contract that’s best for your business.

Contact Energy Advice Line today to find out how to save money on commercial electricity and gas prices and put your business on the best possible footing no matter what happens at this year’s general election.

Read the full report on how the budget impacts small businesses at This Is Money.

Picture credit: CCA: Coleshill High Street Buildings by amandabhslater on Flickr.

COMMENTS
No Comments
CATEGORIES
Business Electricity, Business Energy, Business Gas
AUTHOR
Energy Advice Line
SOCIAL
Twitter RSS Linked In

Debate on green energy generation

25 March 2010

Are wind turbines being placed correctly?

Are wind turbines being placed correctly?

Business energy customers have long been told that green technology, including wind farms, is the way forward to guarantee supply for domestic and commercial energy customers in years to come.

However, a recent report in the Daily Mail revealed that many wind farms are operating under capacity – which the article blamed on a lack of wind. Now concern has been raised that many of the wind turbines may be being put up in the wrong locations to generate enough commercial and business energy to make them viable.

Turbine efficiency is calculated by establishing the theoretical maximum output of a wind farm with what is actually being generated, and according to the Daily Mail the largest UK wind farm in County Durham is just 18.7 per cent efficient, while one at Chelker reservoir in North Yorkshire operates at just 8.7 per cent efficiency.

However, Nick Medic, of Renewable UK, countered the report by saying that the UK “needed every bit of green energy it could generate” in order to meet the renewables targets set by the government.

In Scotland, First Minister Alex Salmond has warmly embraced wind farms and other renewable energy sources. Speaking to the Times, he told of his ambitious plan to turn Scotland into the “Saudi Arabia of marine energy” and the ten new marine-bed projects announced last week have been billed as able to generate up to 1.2GW of electricity by 2020.

For commercial gas and electricity customers, from what I’ve seen, the knowledge of the need for renewable energy generation is very much there, and new initiatives are to be welcomed. As traditional methods of power generation run out, energy will become more expensive. The aim with renewables is to make energy more affordable and reliable in the future.

Green energy is still very much in its infancy, but any move that helps ensure supply in years to come will be welcomed by business energy customers.

The other alternative, nuclear energy, also has its supporters and critics, with both Labour and the Conservatives pledging to invest in it, while the Liberal Democrats would focus solely on renewable energy sources. The Energy and Climate Change Committee told the Daily Telegraph that the disposal of radioactive waste had not been properly considered and urged more consultation before either nuclear energy or wind turbines started being erected.

The future of energy generation will certainly be far different from how things are today. But you can act to save money on your business gas and business electricity today.

Contact Energy Advice Line to find the best deal for your business, and check out our business electricity and business gas top tips to help you save energy today.

Read the Daily Mail article about wind far worries.

Read about Alex Salmond’s ambitions in The Times.

And read about the Energy and Climate Change Committee’s nuclear concerns in the Daily Telegraph.

Picture credit – CCA: Wind Turbine near Corwen by Christopher Owen from Flickr.

COMMENTS
No Comments
CATEGORIES
Business Electricity, Business Energy
AUTHOR
Energy Advice Line
SOCIAL
Twitter RSS Linked In

Business energy customers await Darling’s budget

23 March 2010
The Conservatives plan to incentivise energy suppliers to store gas and electricity in reserve.

The Conservatives plan to incentivise energy suppliers to store gas and electricity in reserve.

Small business owners will be watching Alistair Darling’s budget closely tomorrow in the hope of some announcements that will help them continue on the road to economic recovery. One announcement that will be music to the ears of many SME owners will be new bank lending targets that mean Britain’s state-backed banks, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, will be forced to make more than £80bn credit available to UK businesses. However, both banks have already confessed they will miss previous lending targets set for them because many businesses have paid down loans.

Speaking to the BBC, Chancellor Darling described the forthcoming budget as “sensible.” This means that, despite the imminent general election, there are unlikely to be any headline grabbing announcements about supporting businesses.

Of course, with the election now a matter of weeks away, it’s debatable how much of the budget will be actioned. Even if Labour return to power after the election (widely rumoured to be May 6), according to the BBC report it’s practically a given that Ed Balls will replace Darling as chancellor.

Meanwhile, in a move welcomed by business energy customers, the Conservatives have announced a 12-point green energy plan that will be introduced should they win power. This is the biggest shake-up of the UK energy market since the 1980s, and includes a commitment to force firms to provide sufficient gas and electricity supplies.

By using incentives, David Cameron said, this would guarantee the security of energy supply even in harsh winters like the one just passed, when many domestic and business energy customers worried about the prospect of cuts and excessive costs.

Commercial electricity and commercial gas customers fear they will have to bear the brunt of any disruptions to supply, as many business energy contracts are “interruptible” contracts that mean supply can be disrupted or disconnected during a shortage. This happened to many businesses last winter.

Renewable energy promotion also featured prominently in the Conservatives’ announcement, which included a Green Investment Bank to attract private funding into the renewable energy market.

Both main parties support both nuclear and renewable energy, while the Liberal Democrats have a green energy focus. Business energy customers should be pleased that all parties are aware of how important secure and affordable energy is to all customers – for both private and commercial energy.

Business energy customers await the budget announcements with anticipation. Whatever is announced tomorrow, it’s always worth shopping around for your business gas and business electricity. By seeking advice from an independent service such as Energy Advice Line, you can save time, money and hassle on your business energy overheads.

Read the BBC stories about Alistair Darling’s budget plans.

Read the Daily Telegraph story about bank finance.

And read about the Conservatives’ energy overhaul at Let’s Recycle.

Picture credit: Gas Works by Pavel Tcholakov from Flickr.

COMMENTS
No Comments
CATEGORIES
Business Electricity, Business Energy, Business Gas
AUTHOR
Energy Advice Line
SOCIAL
Twitter RSS Linked In

Conservatives may break up OfGem

18 March 2010

E-Serve supports investment in renewable energy programmes.

E-Serve supports investment in renewable energy programmes.

Business electricity customers have in the past raised concerns at OfGem’s perceived back-track on measures to protect small and medium sized businesses from automatic contract roll-over and assumed renewal tactics when their contracts were due to be renewed.

Now it emerges energy regulator OfGem could be split in two by the Conservative Party if they win the next general election. E-Serve is a self-financed division of the regulator that administers government-based environmental programmes and it gets its money by levying fees on utility companies generating renewable energy, for example with wind farms.

Because of the pledge to cut carbon emissions by 34 per cent by 2020, E-Serve looks likely to be a profitable business. It runs schemes including the Renewable Obligation Certificate, which supports investment in wind and marine energy developments, and the feed-in tariff, in which household and business electricity customers are encourage to undertake their own small-scale electricity generation via such things as solar panels.

The Conservatives also plan to reduce the role of OfGem as a strategic advisor to the Government, with the aim of creating a more stripped down market regulator and protection body for consumers of domestic and business energy.

Of course, the question this raises for business energy customers is whether this will mean OfGem will do more to protect SMEs from tactics such as contract roll over – bringing the protection into line with that afforded to domestic electricity and gas customers.

Assumed renewal was frowned on by business customers for many years. The initial proposal written by OfGEm for industry consideration in summer 2009 did not allow the supplier to assume the contract renewal, but this was amended in the final release in October after the industry had an opportunity to counteract the proposal.

New rules came in to effect on 18 January 2010, giving some protection but seen by many business energy customers as a “watered down” version of the original recommendations.

Business energy customers now have to be contacted a minimum of 30 days before the end of their contract with an explanation of advice available, and key terms and conditions must be explicit before entering into a contract.

For impartial advice on your business energy contracts and to find the best price for your business gas and business electricity, contacting an independent advisor such as Energy Advice Line can help.

Energy Advice Line’s advisors are also on hand to help with any queries you may have about business energy contracts.

Do you think the plans to split OfGem could be good news for business energy customers? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Read the full story about the Conservatives’ plans in The Times.

Picture credit – CCA: Off-Shore Wind Farm Turbine by phault from Flickr

COMMENTS
No Comments
CATEGORIES
Business Electricity, Business Energy
AUTHOR
Energy Advice Line
SOCIAL
Twitter RSS Linked In

Will business electricity customers benefit from new power initiatives?

17 March 2010
The Pentland Firth will be home to ten new marine power generation projects.

The Pentland Firth will be home to ten new marine power generation projects.

There have been lots of exciting developments in the electricity market over the past few days, with the unveiling of ten new power generation projects off the north coast of Scotland and a loan of £80million from the government to a Sheffield company to develop a giant steel press to manufacture components for the nuclear power industry. But on the same day these stories broke, it was revealed that energy bills will rise under EU plans to slash carbon dioxide emissions. What many business energy customers will be wondering is; what does this mean for me?

Yesterday, it was announced that ten huge power generation projects would be implemented in the Pentland Firth, between Orkney and John O’Groats at the very tip of the Scottish mainland. Owners of the seabed the Crown Estate green lit the establishment of large scale marine energy generation projects here.

Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, is a long-term supporter of green energy initiatives, and his SNP party are opposed to nuclear energy, so he was understandably gleeful at the Crown Estate’s announcement.

However, let’s put things into perspective. Even with all of these projects working perfectly, they will only meet a small part of Scotland’s energy needs – never mind the rest of the UK. A similar marine energy generation station, called SeaGen, already exists off Portaferry in Northern Ireland, which has so far delivered 800MWh of electricity into the national grid. However, it’s not been without its problems: last year, one of the blades fell off the underwater propeller and had to be replaced.

Meanwhile, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson was in Sheffield today to visit Sheffield Forgemasters, who have received £80million from the government to help build a 15,000 tonne steel press that will enable the construction of components for the nuclear power industry. This will bring more than 150 skilled jobs to the area.

All these steps towards a low carbon economy are great, and help towards the government target of cutting greenhouse gasses by 34% in the next ten years. But a report in The Times yesterday highlighted the cost implications this could have for domestic and business energy customers.

It’s going to become ever more crucial over the coming years to keep an eye on business energy prices and make sure you are on the best tariff for your company’s needs. By using an impartial advisor such as Energy Advice Line, you can be sure that you are on the best pricing plan for your business’s needs.

There are also several steps you can take right now to save business energy. Switching off lights in empty rooms, making sure you turn off computer monitors at night (or when away from your desk for a long time) or ensuring such things as your refrigeration system are at the right temperature are just some ways of saving business energy.

We’d like to hear your business energy saving tips. Let us know what you do to save business energy by leaving a comment or sending us a tweet to @energyadviceuk.

Read the Daily Record story on Scotland’s marine power developments here.

Learn more about Lord Mandelson’s visit to Sheffield from the Daily Telegraph.

Read the BBC News report on Northern Ireland marine energy generation.

And read the Times article about rising energy bills with greenhouse gas clampdowns.

Picture credit – CCA: Lighthouse by jack_spellingbacon from Flickr

COMMENTS
No Comments
CATEGORIES
Business Energy
AUTHOR
Energy Advice Line
SOCIAL
Twitter RSS Linked In

Business energy companies rank among worst for customer service

12 March 2010
Nobody wants to spend eternity on the phone to a robot.

Nobody wants to spend eternity on the phone to a robot.

It may not come as a surprise to small business holders, but in a recent survey by Cisco, utility companies were ranked among the worst for customer service by members of the Small and Medium-size Enterprise (SME) community. Green energy blog Greenbang reported that a survey of Britain’s SMEs carried out in February ranked business energy providers as second to bottom in terms of customer service – just ahead of rail firms.

As a business owner, you know how vital good customer service is. The importance of providing a positive and helpful customer service experience is, if anything, even more important to a small business than to a giant multinational – and the results of a positive or negative experience is much more likely to feed back, in terms of customer retention and recommendation. Both of these are vital in keeping you in business.

I know of a garage where customers keep bringing their cars back year on year, and sending all their friends and family, because of the positive and prompt service they receive from the family who run the business. Everybody knows a story like this, and it’s what every business is aiming for.

But business energy suppliers appear to be failing.

There is nothing more frustrating than trying to contact your business energy supplier, for example to check your contract renewal date, only to find yourself greeted by a robotic voice that asks you to ‘Choose from the following options’ – press 1 to speak to another robot.

Being stuck on hold for hours while trying to talk to your business electricity or gas supplier just isn’t practical in terms of time or money. Imagine if you had to do that with all business energy suppliers!

That’s where contacting independent price comparison sites such as Energy Advice Line can really help. EAL pride themselves on excellent customer service, and helping small business owners get the best deals for their business energy contracts.

Energy Advice Line will do the hard work for you, contacting all business energy suppliers and presenting you with the options for your business gas and business electricity contracts. EAL are in constant contact with energy companies to ensure they have the very latest prices.

They can cut through the call centre queues for customers with mid-contract billing queries, too.

What’s more, you’ll speak to an experienced, knowledgeable advisor, who can take you through the contract switching process step by step – with no robots in sight!

Read the GreenBang story here.

Information on Cisco here

Picture credit: Robot Telephone by alexkerhead from Flickr

Had a bad customer service experience? Share it with us using the comments on this blog! Which industries have the best, and worst, customer service providers?

COMMENTS
No Comments
CATEGORIES
Business Energy
AUTHOR
Energy Advice Line
SOCIAL
Twitter RSS Linked In

E.ON launch business energy efficiency software, and Scottish Power cut gas prices

11 March 2010
Keeping an eye on business electricity costs can be a tricky job.

Keeping an eye on business electricity costs can be a tricky job.

Energy giant E.ON has launched a new piece of software designed to help small and medium sized businesses monitor their business energy consumption more effectively.

Called Business EnergyManager, the software aims to indicate when and where electricity is used. This sounds like a good idea, as it’s hard to streamline business electricity usage when you don’t know exactly where your electricity is being used, and where efficiency savings can be made. For example, an old or unreliable piece of machinery might be guzzling your electricity without your knowledge and investing in a newer, more energy-efficient piece of kit could save your business a small fortune.

Of course, the catch is you have to be on an E.ON business contract to benefit, which may not necessarily be the best contract for your business energy needs. To truly get the best price, it pays to shop around, and contacting an independent advisor such as Energy Advice Line will help you to do this without investing much time or effort – enabling you to get on with running your business.

I wouldn’t be surprised if other energy firms followed E.ON’s example in the future and developed their own tools for monitoring electricity for business. Anything that helps cut business energy costs and reduce a business’s carbon footprint is a boon in my book.

I must confess, I wasn’t surprised today to hear the news that Scottish Power has cut its prices, effective from the end of March. Various domestic gas price comparison websites have indicated that these cuts are “too little, too late”, says the Energy Saving Trust.

Business gas customers won’t see the benefits of these price reductions until their contract renewal time comes around. It remains to be seen how much business customers will benefit from these cuts in prices. Energy Advice Line constantly receive the latest business energy rates from suppliers and will always quote the cheapest rate available.

For free, impartial advice on switching business energy supplier and finding the best deal for your business, contact Energy Advice Line today.

Read the Energy Saving Trust story here.

Picture credit: Electricity meter by Matt Biddulph from Flickr

COMMENTS
No Comments
CATEGORIES
Business Electricity, Business Energy, Business Gas
AUTHOR
Energy Advice Line
SOCIAL
Twitter RSS Linked In

Where will your business energy come from in future years?

8 March 2010
If you don't have an elephant handy, there are other ways to save business energy costs.

If you don't have an elephant handy, there are other ways to save business energy costs.

On a day when fresh concerns were raised over the investment needed in energy infrastructure in coming years to ensure the supply of domestic and business energy, it was interesting to read stories of how businesses energy supplies could change in the not too distant future.

The Financial Times today carried a report suggesting that uncertainty over what energy policy would be after the forthcoming general election was hindering the estimated £50bn investment that is needed in the UK’s energy infrastructure – specifically in green energy technology such as wind farms – over the next three years.

All the main parties are committed to a low carbon economy and are well aware of domestic and business energy customers’ concerns about supply and price. But what exactly policy will be is uncertain, no matter who wins the election, which is widely rumoured to be on May 6.

Some business energy customers, however, are taking matters into their own hands. Paignton Zoo in Devon and Newquay Zoo in Cornwall are attempting to reduce their carbon emissions by 10% and save on their business energy bills by the end of 2010 – by using elephant dung from their own elephants to generate biogas.

Paignton Zoo’s two elephants produce a tonne of dung each week, and the biogas generated from this waste can in turn be burned to produce electricity. The zoos are currently investigating the viability of these schemes, and I wouldn’t be surprised if other animal parks and farms followed suit.

Meanwhile, BBC Wales reports that rivers could soon be utilised to generate electricity from hydropower. The Environment Agency has just produced a map highlighting 26,000 locations where hydropower turbines could be placed. While there are environmental concerns over these schemes, many could in fact help with such things as fish migration by incorporating “fish friendly” passes that enable the creatures to migrate more easily.

To me, all these schemes sound like great innovations. However, if you’re not in a position to generate your own business electricity (you don’t have two productive elephants handy, for example) there are still many ways of decreasing your energy consumption and business energy costs.

Energy Advice Line has a large range of energy saving tips designed to help you save money on your business energy.

EAL can also help you to switch contracts for business electricityand business gas to ensure you get the best price. Contact us for more information on how we can help.

Read the full Financial Times report here:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0984b084-2a28-11df-b940-00144feabdc0.html

Learn more about the zoos’ electricity from elephants plan in The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/08/10-10-elephant-dung-paignton-zoo

And read the BBC Wales report here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8554966.stm

Picture credit – CCA: Elephant bull 1 by Tambako from Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tambako/1196453096/

COMMENTS
No Comments
CATEGORIES
Business Electricity
AUTHOR
Energy Advice Line
SOCIAL
Twitter RSS Linked In

Scottish & Southern Energy slash gas bills for domestic energy customers – but what does the future hold for business gas clients?

4 March 2010
Are business gas prices buring up your profits?

Are business gas prices buring up your profits?

There’s a huge flurry of excitement every time a cut in gas and electricity bills is announced, and it’s easy to understand why. Particularly with the winter we’ve just had, most of us are discovering a nasty surprise in our letterbox in the shape of a higher than usual energy bill. That’s why today’s announcement from Scottish & Southern Energy that they are cutting their gas bills by 4 per cent from the end of March will be welcome news for domestic energy customers everywhere. But what about business gas customers? Will they start to see the benefits of the decrease in wholesale gas prices sometime soon?

Business energy clients are likely to be tied in to fixed-term, fixed-rate contracts, which means any cut in prices won’t be felt immediately unless it comes at the time you’re switching business energy supplier.

Therefore, it’s important to be aware of when your business energy contract renewal date is. You can use Energy Advice Line’s reminder service for peace of mind – just give our team your renewal date and we’ll remind you that it may be time to switch supplier as that date approaches.

If you stick with your current business energy supplier, you won’t get the best deal. That is virtually guaranteed. Shopping around is, therefore, very helpful – but who’s got time to sit on the phone to one energy company’s call centre waiting for the hard sell, let alone six? That’s where an independent service such as Energy Advice Line can help.

Energy Advice Line will contact the energy companies for you, find the best deals to suit your business energy needs, and leave the final decision up to you. We can also handle the entire switchover process for you.

Julian Morgan, Managing Director of Energy Advice Line, reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to finding the very best business gas and business electricity prices for its customers: “Some of our suppliers change their commercial prices on a weekly basis,” he said. “EAL are constantly updating the business electricity and gas prices provided by our panel of suppliers to ensure you, our customers, get the best prices possible for their business gas and business energy.”

You can read all about Scottish & Southern Energy’s domestic cuts in The Times Online.

Picture credit – CCA: Gas ring by CK Howley from Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ckhowley/2213053830/

COMMENTS
No Comments
CATEGORIES
Business Energy, Business Gas
AUTHOR
Energy Advice Line
SOCIAL
Twitter RSS Linked In

UK businesses risk using competitiveness with spiralling business energy costs

4 March 2010

Business electricity costs are set to rise as the UK strives to be a low carbon economy.

Business electricity costs are set to rise as the UK strives to be a low carbon economy.

Business electricity customers are facing unprecedented hikes in their energy costs thanks to ‘hidden’ low carbon initiatives, Greenwise Business warned yesterday.

While domestic electricity customers will also see increases, it’s the business energy community that is likely to bear the brunt of changes that include the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme.

I’ve written a lot in the past about these new schemes; just last week Gordon Brown praised Britain’s green energy generating capacity as being a world leader. Business energy customers are all too aware of the need to generate more energy from renewable sources – but according to the Greenwise report, many may not be fully aware of the cost implications.

Over the next five years, OfGem plans a £7.2billion upgrade of the electricity distribution network to accommodate more renewable energy and support wide-reaching trials of new technologies such as smart grids. This is all going to cost money, and the concern is that business electricity customers will have to shoulder much of the burden.

Add to that the range of measures being introduced to reduce businesses’ carbon footprints and move the UK towards a low carbon economy and the challenge faced by businesses, particularly SMEs, is a daunting one.

The Greenwise article offers some valuable advice for large companies. But for smaller businesses, approaches such as generating your own electricity may simply not be practical. So what can you, as a small business owner, do to ensure your business electricity costs don’t threaten your competitiveness?

One of the most important actions to take is to ensure you don’t get ‘rolled over’ by your current energy supplier when you reach the end of your contract. Although OfGem recently changed the rules slightly to help small businesses prevent this from happening, you still need to be astute and aware of when your contract renewal date is coming up.

When your contract is up for renewal, it’s a good idea to contact an independent advisor such as Energy Advice Line. We can help find the right business electricity deal for your company, no matter what your needs.

Contact us today to see how we can help with business energy costs.

Read the Greenwise article in full here.

Picture credit – CCA: Pylons at Dungeness by Elsie esq. from Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elsie/67224092/

COMMENTS
No Comments
CATEGORIES
Business Electricity
AUTHOR
Energy Advice Line
SOCIAL
Twitter RSS Linked In
Previous Posts