Switching to another business energy deal was harder than switching to another domestic energy supplier. Remember that business energy contracts are designed differently from domestic energy contracts. For businesses, there are also a few energy suppliers that combine gas and electricity into one tariff. Most of the cheapest business electricity or gas tariffs cannot be found directly from the energy suppliers. This is because many energy suppliers usually offer favorable energy deals to energy brokers.
As a business customer, you can save tons of money by using an energy broker to help you make the switch. Before you make the switch, it’s crucial to determine your business energy consumption. You may be wondering, What Is Average Business Energy Consumption? This can depend on various factors, such as the number of your employees and business size. This post discusses how you can save money by switching energy suppliers.
Switching business energy suppliers
Like individual households or consumers, most business owners prefer to stick with the same energy provider for many years. But switching business energy suppliers can assist you in controlling your energy expenses.
You can switch to another business energy provider immediately after your current gas and electricity contract enters its renewal window. There is a chance that this can be anywhere from one to six months before the expiry date. The good thing is that your energy supplier can inform you that your energy contract is approaching the renewal window.
And if you are unsure about this renewal window, then you can check your energy contract or even contact your current energy provider to find out. Remember that you can start searching for the available options even before you reach this renewal window to see what energy suppliers are offering.
There are several reasons why it makes sense to switch energy suppliers. It’s likely that your current energy deal can be moved to a more expensive rate. Therefore, you need to be proactive when it comes to energy contract renewals. Quite often, money cannot be the only incentive to force you to switch energy suppliers.
There are also many businesses that are choosing green energy tariffs. Fortunately, you can find many green energy providers that are offering business premises with gas and electricity that is produced via renewable sources like gas and hydro.
Besides helping the country to achieve its carbon reduction goal of net zero by 2050, your business can also go green to assist you in reducing some costs over time. After all, renewable energy cannot be affected by the increased pressure of fossil fuel costs that are likely to hit in the future.
The good thing is that it’s easy to switch business energy contracts. You can contact any energy brokers to start searching for cost-effective energy tariffs. Some energy suppliers partner with energy suppliers to make it easier for you to make the switch. But you need to provide the energy broker with your business address as well as the business name so that they can compare the right business deals for you. This can help you to switch energy suppliers quickly.
Simply put, there are a couple of things that your energy broker may require to make the switch. This includes the details of your electricity or gas supplier, the type of energy tariff your business is on and the expiry date, the supply types, and the amount of electricity and gas your business utilizes.
Types of business energy tariffs
It’s likely that you have to get a separate tariff for your electricity and gas because there are few energy suppliers that offer dual fuel tariffs, especially for business energy contracts. But you can decide to take a gas contract and electricity contract with the same energy supplier.
And, when you decide to search for a new energy tariff through an energy broker, you can compare variable rate and fixed-term energy tariffs to determine which one is more ideal for your business model. A fixed-term energy tariff means that you can pay an agreed energy price for every unit of energy your business utilizes over a fixed period. This period can usually be from one to five years.
Choosing a fixed-term energy rate can also mean that you have to pay the same rate for the entire period of your business energy contract. Therefore, the energy price increases cannot affect you. But you should note that there is an exit fee that tends to be high. In some cases, an energy supplier can allow you to leave the energy contract early.
On the other hand, with a variable rate tariff, the amount of money you have to pay can vary depending on the energy market. Therefore, you can pay less money if energy prices drop, but you can pay more when the energy prices rise. Besides, if you intend to go green, you can choose a green tariff and get all or some of your energy generated from renewable sources.
And, if you have several sites, then you can get a multi-site energy contract. This can allow you to gather all the business energy tariffs into a single package with the energy supplier. This can be a good move, especially if you run several businesses. This is because your energy contracts can have the same expiry dates, so this makes the contracts easier to manage.
The truth is that the best energy tariff needs to be the cheapest one. But affordability should not be the only deciding factor. If your potential business energy supplier is not the right fit for your business, you can experience many problems with your energy contract. There is no business owner who wants to be blocked from receiving energy supply or pay more for the energy bills than they can afford.
It’s worth remembering that different energy suppliers provide different benefits. Therefore, you need to compare the options available on the market. In most cases, you should note that you can only make the switch when your energy contract is in its renewal window. And, this can sometimes be six months before the energy deal can expire.
Photo credit: The feature image has been done by Vitalik Radko.
