Small Businesses Wasting Money On Electricity
Small & medium sized businesses are wasting money on electricity according to new figures from British Gas.
Latest British Gas figures show that businesses are spending £1 in every £2 on their business electricity bills.
British Gas figures from smart meter readings show that 46% of business electricity use occurs after the usual working hours of 8am-6pm. So what or who is using your business electricity?
A lot of electricity is used lighting car parks at the weekend when there’s no-one in the office. Many pubs keep fruit machines permanently switched on and many retail outlets keep display unit lights on when the shop or shopping centre is closed. Electricity is wasted in offices by keeping vending machines switched on overnight and during the weekend when there’s no-one about.
At a time when business electricity prices are increasing and economic conditions are not great it seems businesses need to understand where they are needlessly using electricity before they can cut back and save money. British Gas says that its business customers could save as much as £1,200 on their annual electricity bill just by switching off car park lights at the weekend.
British Gas is today launching Business Energy Insight “to show businesses how, when and where they are using electricity and proactively help them to save money through energy efficiency measures”.
Businesses which sign up to Business Energy Insight will have a smart meter installed, access 24 hours a day to a dashboard which shows electricity usage hourly, daily, weekly and monthly and support from account executives trained to help customers put energy saving measures into practice.
Smart meters mean that businesses no longer receive estimated bills. They send regular readings directly to the energy supplier so energy bills will be more accurate. The dashboard will help businesses to identify as much as 10% savings through behavioural changes. Introducing simple efficiency measures such as installing timers will help to save even more business electricity.
Managing Director of SME Energy at British Gas, Marc England, said “Small and Medium sized businesses are the backbone of the UK. They tell us that reducing their costs is essential to competing in a challenging economy. However, many don’t understand their electricity costs, and how they could reduce them. Business Energy Insight has been designed by businesses for businesses to provide our customers more accurate bills and the insight to reduce their costs and improve their competitiveness”.
In the current economic climate businesses really can’t afford to waste money on electricity when there’s no-one in the office, shop or pub. Business electricity prices are likely to keep on rising so it’s important for businesses to both cut back on electricity usage as well as save on business energy bills by comparing business electric prices and switching.