Business costs are rising
Many small businesses are feeling financial pressure as our economy remains strained. Ongoing Brexit uncertainty, weak consumer demand and rising labour costs are just a few of the factors that are making life difficult for smaller business owners.
Regulation is another key concern, with 36% of small businesses reporting that regulatory concerns are a main driver of rising costs. This year, we’ve seen the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which has placed increased pressure on businesses of all sizes and forced many to change the way they communicate with prospective customers.
A recent study carried out by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) revealed that 71% of small businesses reported a rise in their operating costs, in 2017 with utility costs in particular rising by 24% since the same period in 2016. While many business owners pay a fixed price for their energy, with energy costs increasing year on year, you may be surprised when it’s time to renew your contract.
Our top tips for reducing your energy bill
When it comes to the majority of your operational costs – such as your business rates, insurance cover and wage bill – one cost that you can reduce is your energy spend. Energy is often a forgotten business expense, but 61% of small business owners say that their energy is a significant cost to them.
You could make some crucial savings by optimising your energy strategy – here are our top tips:
1. Implement energy efficiency measures
To get in front of the energy curve and reduce the cost of your energy, you can implement certain energy saving technologies within your business such as LED lighting, which is predicted to grow 20% year on year through to 2025.
Lighting, which accounts for 18% of the UK’s electricity, can be significantly reduced with the use of good quality lighting and could reduce the need for two new power stations in the near future.
Alternatively, small businesses can tackle the amount of energy used by considering the time of day energy is consumed. Depending upon the type of contract in place, a business could negotiate a meter set up which incorporates a cheaper evening or weekend rate to better suit their opening times, or businesses could alter their time of operation to lower costs.
2. Switch your supplier
With uncertainty surrounding the UK, we encourage our clients to seek out longer term fixed contracts in order to contain the rising cost of energy year on year. According to data from 2016, the cost of staying loyal to one single supplier is about £7billion in the business energy market and small businesses could find themselves saving on average £532 per meter per year by switching.
A rise in your business costs could have an effect on your business’ bottom line so it’s best to ensure that you stay ahead of the market and shop around for your energy. By securing yourself a fixed price contract today, you will be protecting your business from rising energy costs in the future.
3. Get expert advice
When you’re concentrating on your core business activities, you may not have time to make sure that you’re on the best energy deal for your business. That’s why many small businesses find it useful to work with an energy consultancy – as industry insiders, energy consultants can do all the hard work of finding the right contract and switching suppliers for you, so you’re free to concentrate on your business.
Inenco’s dedicated team have full access to the market, so we can ensure that you are securing the best price for your energy. If you’d like to talk to one of our experts about how we can help your business, call us on 0800 406 1499 or request a call back.