Business Energy Prices
Discussion
I have just had a quotation for the supply of electricity to my small business, my current contract expires on 30th September and I am paying somewhere in the region of £18,000 per annum which is where it has been for the last 4+years give or take.
My new quotation comes in at a staggering £71,000 per annum, which is just a mind blowing increase, and quite frankly has the potential to want me to just close the doors and walk away.
I really don't know how to cope with such a huge increase other than put my prices up which runs the risk of losing business, and I've still got the gas increases to come when the current contract expires next year.
I think we are going to be heading straight into a massive recession in the not too distant future.
My new quotation comes in at a staggering £71,000 per annum, which is just a mind blowing increase, and quite frankly has the potential to want me to just close the doors and walk away.
I really don't know how to cope with such a huge increase other than put my prices up which runs the risk of losing business, and I've still got the gas increases to come when the current contract expires next year.
I think we are going to be heading straight into a massive recession in the not too distant future.
That is insane, how can any small business deal with that sort of increase......?
How long would the new period be fixed for? I have a small business contract and use a tiny (in comparison to you) amount of electricity but had an offer to fix for 3 years just before things went silly. Are you getting an offer to fix for a number of years? Could you negotiate a smaller contract length and hope things settle down......
May I ask what you do to use such a lot of power?
How long would the new period be fixed for? I have a small business contract and use a tiny (in comparison to you) amount of electricity but had an offer to fix for 3 years just before things went silly. Are you getting an offer to fix for a number of years? Could you negotiate a smaller contract length and hope things settle down......
May I ask what you do to use such a lot of power?
I heard an interview with an Executive with Iceland, he said last year they spent £65m on utilities. He expected that figure to rise by multiples this year, god knows how our economy can take a hit like that. Boris has no answers, the Russia / Ukraine situation looks like it’s heading into the winter, truly difficult times ahead for UK Plc.
Evening Martyn
I happened to see your post earlier today, pretty shocking. I clicked your profile and see you are in Suffolk, as am I
A couple of things. Electricity is becoming furiously expensive so the obvious things are to eliminate any significant electric water/space heating, as well as switch to LED lighting. Just one outbuilding I did went from 2000W to 320W. You've probably done all that anyway.
I did see this Nethergate story in the EADT the other day.
https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/business/suffolk-brewe...
It may be you have nowhere to stick panels, or that you need electricity mostly when the sun is not shining. I have 10kW of panels but so far no batteries, which is a regret
Finally - I don't know if this is still a thing but the government used to be keen for businesses to install solid fuel biomass Combined Heat and Power plants. There were generous incentives to encourage businesses to do this. East Green Energy are the people that come to mind, although I've never done business with them
All good wishes, Mike
I happened to see your post earlier today, pretty shocking. I clicked your profile and see you are in Suffolk, as am I
A couple of things. Electricity is becoming furiously expensive so the obvious things are to eliminate any significant electric water/space heating, as well as switch to LED lighting. Just one outbuilding I did went from 2000W to 320W. You've probably done all that anyway.
I did see this Nethergate story in the EADT the other day.
https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/business/suffolk-brewe...
It may be you have nowhere to stick panels, or that you need electricity mostly when the sun is not shining. I have 10kW of panels but so far no batteries, which is a regret
Finally - I don't know if this is still a thing but the government used to be keen for businesses to install solid fuel biomass Combined Heat and Power plants. There were generous incentives to encourage businesses to do this. East Green Energy are the people that come to mind, although I've never done business with them
All good wishes, Mike
Have you tried https://www.energylinx.co.uk/ ?
I use them to get an idea on prices. I ended up signing with a company not on there, but it gave me a bargaining arm to use. My electricity has doubled with the new contract to what it has been the past 4 years.
I use them to get an idea on prices. I ended up signing with a company not on there, but it gave me a bargaining arm to use. My electricity has doubled with the new contract to what it has been the past 4 years.
Bump!
We're coming out of contract in the next couple of months and the market appears to be very broken.
No commercial price cap is most definitely going to mean companies going to the wall.
We are a high street type general office building with 2 domestic gas boilers for space heating, then electric-wise we have low energy lighting, PC/IT equipment, a fridge, a kettle and a microwave. Probably low energy users for commercial buildings. We're in a typical 1930s/40s building that's solidly built but not the most energy efficient.
Current spend is around 2800 a year, and we're looking at new quotes of 12-13k.
I've been told there is between 50 and 600 quid per meter per year commission built in to the contract prices, actual amount depending on usage.
We have one electricity meter and two gas meters.
I'm looking at extra insulation, sealing upvc window frames better, fitting timers to stuff on standby and so on but I can't see us shaving much off to be honest.
Initial quotes are below - I thought it may be of use posting actual quote prices :
Gas - using 36000 kwh per annum - approx 7-7.7k per year
Electricity - using 8400 kwh per annum - approx 5-5.7k per year
Anybody in the commercial supply business? Top tips? Is it going to get worse in the short term or should I be signing contracts now?
We're coming out of contract in the next couple of months and the market appears to be very broken.
No commercial price cap is most definitely going to mean companies going to the wall.
We are a high street type general office building with 2 domestic gas boilers for space heating, then electric-wise we have low energy lighting, PC/IT equipment, a fridge, a kettle and a microwave. Probably low energy users for commercial buildings. We're in a typical 1930s/40s building that's solidly built but not the most energy efficient.
Current spend is around 2800 a year, and we're looking at new quotes of 12-13k.
I've been told there is between 50 and 600 quid per meter per year commission built in to the contract prices, actual amount depending on usage.
We have one electricity meter and two gas meters.
I'm looking at extra insulation, sealing upvc window frames better, fitting timers to stuff on standby and so on but I can't see us shaving much off to be honest.
Initial quotes are below - I thought it may be of use posting actual quote prices :
Gas - using 36000 kwh per annum - approx 7-7.7k per year
Electricity - using 8400 kwh per annum - approx 5-5.7k per year
Anybody in the commercial supply business? Top tips? Is it going to get worse in the short term or should I be signing contracts now?
Sorry for the lack of replies I couldn't remember where I had posted the information as I was somewhat in shock, in the meantime I have managed to get it down to a £42K increase which is still insane but I have no option and its fixed for one year - with BG who were by far the cheapest supplier I or any energy broker could find.
We are a glass manipulation company so a lot of the electricity is used in some fairly large ovens for removing stress from glass after it has been formed with a flame, which of course means we use a fair amount of gas as well, plus we also use oxygen for increasing the burn temperature.
I have written to the local MP for my area (James Cleverly), who also lives in the village my business is in, to which I finally had a reply from his secretary who said that Mr Cleverly would raise my concerns in Parliament, however that will almost certainly not help in anyway.
I can ride the increases with some savings, but not £42K worth, so the only other option I have is increase my selling costs or reduce my manufacturing costs which are primarily people and raw materials which of course has also risen.
We are a glass manipulation company so a lot of the electricity is used in some fairly large ovens for removing stress from glass after it has been formed with a flame, which of course means we use a fair amount of gas as well, plus we also use oxygen for increasing the burn temperature.
I have written to the local MP for my area (James Cleverly), who also lives in the village my business is in, to which I finally had a reply from his secretary who said that Mr Cleverly would raise my concerns in Parliament, however that will almost certainly not help in anyway.
I can ride the increases with some savings, but not £42K worth, so the only other option I have is increase my selling costs or reduce my manufacturing costs which are primarily people and raw materials which of course has also risen.
Panamax said:
Some readers may not appreciate that business energy carries full 20% VAT, not the 5% domestic rate, so small businesses that aren't VAT registered get a massive increased burden.
Yes those are plus vat 
We're vat registered fortunately.
Take a walk down the average high street and try and spot the shops that'll be closing - hairdressers (hot water and hairdryers), newsagents (fridges and freezers), takeaways (gas), dog groomers (hot water and dryers), it's a long list.
And that's before you get to the average industrial estate as per two posts above where companies (whisper it) actually MAKE stuff.
Feel for a lot of business owners. Not a business owner, but I'm in manufacturing and we've got lots of energy intensive hardware such as reflow ovens, injection moulding machines, wave soldering, climatic chambers and so on. Makes me wonder what the outlook will be come winter if prices are quadrupling- maybe lay offs could be a possibility?
Fusion777 said:
Feel for a lot of business owners. Not a business owner, but I'm in manufacturing and we've got lots of energy intensive hardware such as reflow ovens, injection moulding machines, wave soldering, climatic chambers and so on. Makes me wonder what the outlook will be come winter if prices are quadrupling- maybe lay offs could be a possibility?
I think lay-offs would be the absolute BEST case scenario, looking at the numbers posted up thread. A 4.5x increase is going to see the majority of businesses fold as hardly anyone will be able to afford their product or service at the price they'll need to charge to turn a profit. Life in the UK is soon to become extremely s
t for everyone.Update - apparently if I'd been looking 2-3 weeks ago I could have saved 40%. Thanks for that.
Allegedly prices are going up again tomorrow so I've signed up direct with EonNext.
17.5p kwh gas, 30p standing charge per day per meter.
I feel dirty.
TRVs being added to all rads without them, boiler being serviced and a better programmable stat installed, loft being emptied and insulated, window frames being resealed to the brickwork, and I'm gettng a roofer out to look at solar pv viability without a reroof.
Are those Thinsulate hats and gloves actually any good?
Can you get company logos added to them?
Do they look silly with a suit and tie?
Allegedly prices are going up again tomorrow so I've signed up direct with EonNext.
17.5p kwh gas, 30p standing charge per day per meter.
I feel dirty.
TRVs being added to all rads without them, boiler being serviced and a better programmable stat installed, loft being emptied and insulated, window frames being resealed to the brickwork, and I'm gettng a roofer out to look at solar pv viability without a reroof.
Are those Thinsulate hats and gloves actually any good?
Can you get company logos added to them?
Do they look silly with a suit and tie?
A bit left field but is anyone involved with local authority or highways agency energy procurement? They must also be looking at soaring costs! Will we start to see things like Trafic signals turned off outside of busy hours? As an example I came off the M1 at Leeds for fuel early this morning and it was through 15 sets of lights to get back onto the motorway, there must be massive cost and energy savings available?
my wife's school is also impacted as part of a Trust.
3 schools ( 2 secondary, one primary) were spending £275k on gas and £138k on electricity and now are going to be spending £1,019,000 for the next academic year. They do have around £900k in surplus, but will mean ending 2024 I think, in debt/overspent by £40k. The Exec Head has written to the Education office for some support. I suspect it is not forth coming.
3 schools ( 2 secondary, one primary) were spending £275k on gas and £138k on electricity and now are going to be spending £1,019,000 for the next academic year. They do have around £900k in surplus, but will mean ending 2024 I think, in debt/overspent by £40k. The Exec Head has written to the Education office for some support. I suspect it is not forth coming.
Essarell said:
A bit left field but is anyone involved with local authority or highways agency energy procurement? They must also be looking at soaring costs! Will we start to see things like Trafic signals turned off outside of busy hours? As an example I came off the M1 at Leeds for fuel early this morning and it was through 15 sets of lights to get back onto the motorway, there must be massive cost and energy savings available?
I read somewhere that each say lamp post pays a fixed annual price for electricity and I imagine contracts will be much longer.Street lighting is mostly low energy now so compared to heating it's "economical" to run per light.
This winter in schools : "Happy birthday to yooooo...." (using cold water only obvs)
Dynion Araf Uchaf said:
my wife's school is also impacted as part of a Trust.
3 schools ( 2 secondary, one primary) were spending £275k on gas and £138k on electricity and now are going to be spending £1,019,000 for the next academic year. They do have around £900k in surplus, but will mean ending 2024 I think, in debt/overspent by £40k. The Exec Head has written to the Education office for some support. I suspect it is not forth coming.
Last winter in schools : open all the windows!3 schools ( 2 secondary, one primary) were spending £275k on gas and £138k on electricity and now are going to be spending £1,019,000 for the next academic year. They do have around £900k in surplus, but will mean ending 2024 I think, in debt/overspent by £40k. The Exec Head has written to the Education office for some support. I suspect it is not forth coming.
This winter in schools : "Happy birthday to yooooo...." (using cold water only obvs)
Sorry, I didn't realise I started a duplicate thread....
I was absolutely fuming having to sign to pay 28p/33p kWh for two elec meters at the start of the year for a 1Y contract. Now I'm glad I did, this is absolutely shocking, especially for any business already struggling.
For those that manufacture and use energy as part of the cost of goods, if you were paying 17p kWh and now your paying 60p kWh. How much would you need to increase you're prices to maintain your margin?
As a side note, Liverpool City Council are in hot water at the moment because they didn't renew their energy contracts and are now on the hook for millions.
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-new...
I was absolutely fuming having to sign to pay 28p/33p kWh for two elec meters at the start of the year for a 1Y contract. Now I'm glad I did, this is absolutely shocking, especially for any business already struggling.
For those that manufacture and use energy as part of the cost of goods, if you were paying 17p kWh and now your paying 60p kWh. How much would you need to increase you're prices to maintain your margin?
As a side note, Liverpool City Council are in hot water at the moment because they didn't renew their energy contracts and are now on the hook for millions.
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-new...
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