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.
Tags: Business Electricity, Business Gas, Commercial Electricity, Commercial Gas, Green energy
