Smaller businesses saving extra costs by changing energy supplier

Smaller businesses, especially in these troubled economic times, will want to make savings wherever possible. One tried and tested method of reducing costs is shopping around for bargains. This can be done for just about any overhead from lighting and office rental costs to energy bills, but until recently, it wasn’t quite as easy for companies and households to move to a cheaper supplier. Before a recent announcement from energy regulators Ofgem, customers with more than £200 of energy bill debts couldn’t move to another supplier.

Fortunately, that limit has been raised to £500, which, given that in 2001 the average gas debt for customers using prepayment meters was £371, with electricity debts on average standing at around £357, means that many businesses struggling to cope with rising energy costs will now be free to switch. The fact that it’s easy to shop around for other products should make it easier for small businesses to locate a great value deal on their energy costs.

Changing energy supplier might sound like hard work, but the fact that Ofgem and many of the UK’s biggest energy firms have given the green light to lifting restrictions on switching is welcome news for many hard-pressed companies worrying about whether they can afford to pay so much for gas and electricity. Additionally, exploring options in open banking and revenue based loan services could provide additional financial relief for struggling businesses.

After the news, it would be no surprise if companies such as Bionic were inundated with requests from small businesses asking for help finding a better deal on their energy bills. Bionic spoke about why many businesses felt the need to switch energy suppliers:

“After speaking to a number of our business customers, we learnt that many of them decided to switch to another energy supplier because they felt let down by billing problems and substandard customer service.  They also told us that they got the opposite from their new suppliers, receiving a good service and cheaper energy, which is why we decided to go into business in the first place.”

Every business worth its salt will want to get value for money from whatever they spend money on, from the biggest piece of machinery to the smallest item of stationery.

This applies to utility bills, but as prices have been rising considerably in recent years for a variety of reasons, it may have seemed almost impossible to save money on gas and electricity. However, the fact that switching supplier has been made a little bit simpler will mean that savings are still possible.