Worcestershire businesses should act swiftly to avoid being stung by rapidly rising energy prices, the UK’s leading independent business electricity provider has warned.
Analysis by BizzEnergy shows that after several years of falling prices, a rise in wholesale electricity costs of 40% is now increasing business utility bills by several per cent. Organisations delaying a review of their contract renewal in the hope of ‘waiting for prices to improve’ are in for a shock, says the company:
“With market prices falling steadily for several years, many businesses have got used to the idea of switching supplier to reduce energy bills,” confirms Sussanne Chambers, Director of Marketing at BizzEnergy. “Unfortunately the situation has now completely reversed. In the past 12 months alone wholesale electricity prices have risen by 40% and there is no sign of a slow down. It means that businesses shopping around are finding fewer savings on the table – and in most cases they are seeing a considerable increase on their old rate.”
There are several reasons why energy prices are on the up, continues Chambers: “Higher crude oil prices and the sheer weight of energy demand in comparison to supply have massively increased the price of wholesale gas and electricity. This has had a knock-on effect on the prices paid by both homes and businesses; leaving many energy users struggling to cope with bigger bills.”
Clearly for many smaller businesses, rising operational costs can have a disastrous effect on already slim profits. But businesses can limit the damage by taking power into their own hands. “We have already seen many instances where companies have lost out massively by waiting for the market to improve,” says Chambers. “Regardless of when your electricity renewal date is due, our advice to business owners and purchasing managers is to act now.
“By asking at least one alternative provider about a fixed, long-term rate you can fix your price before the market rises even further. A customer committing today to a two-year contract with BizzEnergy, for example, can secure today’s prices for the whole duration of the agreement – even if the new contract does not actually begin for some time. This is because once a contract is booked we are able to buy that customer’s electricity in advance at that day’s rate – protecting them from escalating prices in the future.”
