Recently the government announced an Energy Bill Relief Scheme to support businesses with energy bills. This support means all businesses who signed their business energy contracts after December 1st 2021 will be eligible for support.
The support discounts the wholesale prices of your gas and electricity contracts. For customers on fixed contracts, your wholesale costs will be reduced to 21.1 p/kWh for electricity and 7.5 p/kWh for gas.
For businesses on variable tariffs or deemed rates, you will receive a maximum discount. The discount will be the difference between a deemed wholesale rate and a maximum of 34.5 p/kWh for electricity and 9.1 p/kWh for gas.
This support began in October 2022 and will come to an end on March 31st 2023. Although business energy bills are reduced as of now, this is not going to last forever, unfortunately. When support ends, the energy rates are not going to be much better than when it began.
Therefore, your business needs to get on top of these bills before that time comes.
What is going to happen with energy bills after the business price cap comes to an end
As of now, not much has been announced by the government when it comes to business energy support after the price cap ends.
Jeremy Hunt, the current chancellor did announce that support for businesses after the price cap will be based on incentives for energy efficiency. This not the announcement many people were hoping for. However, this means that your business could possibly get a head start on reducing your energy consumption with energy efficient measures today.
Looking at the wholesale energy market, it looks like business energy rates could be even worse by the time we get to April 2023.
How to reduce business energy bills
Luckily there are still ways we could reduce your business energy bills between now and the support end date.
If your business starts reducing the amount of gas and electricity you use now, your overall consumption and bill will come down. This means that when the support ends although you may have to pay higher rates for energy, you will use less energy than before meaning your overall bill will be lower.
At Resolve Net Zero we have a range of carbon reduction services that will reduce your energy consumption.
Carbon reduction plans
With a carbon reduction plan, we can help your business measure your current energy usage and carbon emissions. With this information we can then help you to identify areas of your business where energy efficient measures can be taken or energy reduction technology can be implemented.
These plans can include a number of our Net Zero solutions and can be completely customisable to your budget and business operations.
We understand that currently, businesses may be struggling with paying energy bills and may think that investing in carbon reduction doesn't make sense. However, saving money on your energy bills and reducing consumption go hand in hand. You are never really going to be able to lower energy prices without using less energy overall.
Solar panels
Another way we can help businesses save money on energy bills is by helping you generate your own energy. Solar panels or Photovoltaics work by converting energy from the sun into power. Using solar panels to generate your own electricity will mean you pay less for your electricity.
By generating your own electricity your business will also be less dependent on the wholesale market and the price volatility it has caused recently.
To find out more about solar panels for your business read more here.
Voltage optimisation
Another way that your business could save on your energy bills is by wasting less electricity.
Most equipment in the UK is designed for the European market, which means that it will work in a voltage range from 207V to 253V. However, most appliances will work best and most efficiently at 220V. In the UK, the electricity is supplied up t 253V.
This means that you are overvolting your electric equipment, leading to higher energy costs for wasted electricity. Although this might not seem like a lot of energy this can build up, especially if you use electric equipment all day and all night.
to find out more about voltage optimisation continue reading here.
If you're ready to improve your energy efficiency whilst driving down energy bills then why not get in touch? With our carbon management plans we will give your business everything it needs to reduce consumption and maximise on savings. . Request a free quote now and start reducing your carbon footprint and energy bills today.
