Monthly Archives: March 2016

According to a You Gov survey commissioned by npower, Small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in the UK saved £511 million on their energy bills in the last 12 months and around 45% of them saved up to £10,000 per year.

This is all because they negotiated a better deal from their suppliers, with as many as 93% of SMEs stating that taking the time to negotiate contracts really is worth while with average savings per business valued around £2,800.

However, despite the financial benefits of negotiating with energy companies, still 70% of SMEs don’t think to ask for discounts and price savings.

To encourage more businesses to negotiate with their suppliers, the Big Six has launched a campaign which offers tips on how to get the most out of their negotiations, including the importance of research and planning ahead.

Philip Scholes, Head of npower Business said: “This research shows that businesses across the UK are reaping the dividends of negotiating their supplier contracts. However, not all firms are entering discussions with their provider, which could prove to be a missed opportunity in the long term.

“That’s why we launched this campaign – we’d encourage all British businesses to look at their supplier costs and particularly their annual energy costs to help improve their bottom line.”

Earlier this month, the CMA stated SMEs paid around £280 million more per year between 2007 and 2014 to the Big Six.

Britain’s greenest energy company, is cutting its customers’ gas bills by 7% from April. Ecotricity believe the cuts, available to both new and existing customers, will save the average customer nearly £50 a year on their only tariff – ‘Green Gas.’

The company said it was making the cut following recent falls in the wholesale gas price – and called for other energy companies to better reflect wholesale reductions in their own price cuts.

The price cuts follow similar price cuts from large energy suppliers in the wake of plummeting wholesale gas prices. However, Ecotricity’s cuts are the largest in the industry so far. Earlier this week British Gas and EDF Energy cut their gas prices by 5%.

In the past 12 months the price of wholesale gas has fallen by as much as 35%, caused by lower global commodity prices and a mild winter.

Ecotricity said the price cuts would save the average customer £46 a year. The utility, which has one flat-rate gas tariff for all its customers, called for other utilities to make more aggressive price cuts in light of the fall in wholesale gas prices.

Founder Dale Vince said the 5% cuts from the rest of the industry do not go far enough.

He added: “We think 7% better reflects the reduction in wholesale costs. The 5% reductions that we’ve seen so far around the industry just aren’t enough.

“It’s all of our customers who’ll get this reduction, too – no matter when they joined us or how they choose to pay; that’s part of our ethical approach – one tariff and one price for everybody. We think that’s how it should be.”

Ecotricity’s Green Gas tariff is the only one in Britain with a green component and the only one with a frack-free promise – the company also recently announced that they’ll be making their own green gas from grass using its Green Gas Mills.

Mr Vince added: “A new kind of gas is entering the energy market, the green kind – and it’s the genuine alternative to fracking in Britain.

“Oil prices have fallen, so we’re seeing reductions in gas prices across the industry now – but one thing is for sure, they’ll go up again. It’s only by making our own green gas in Britain that we can keep energy bills affordable in the long term by creating energy independence – and we won’t need to frack the countryside to get our gas.”

Last month, Ecotricity lodged a planning application for its first anaerobic digestion plant, which if approved will be the first of three Green Gas Mills from the energy provider.

The plant will create gas from grass and rye sourced from within 10 miles of the plant, and will also include training facilities to offer local college students work experience in the anaerobic digestion industry.

100,000 people could die over the next 15 years because they can’t afford to heat their homes.