Q – Why should I use your service?

A – If we are engaged to negotiate your energy prices we seek to maintain a single recorded dialogue with the suppliers on your behalf, hence it is essential that you refer unsolicited calls from energy suppliers to us.

It is important to remember that the supply companies would prefer to deal direct with you for the simple reason that if we are involved their profit line will be much diminished.

It pays to let us do the whole thing as we place many millions of gas and electricity units every year, ensuring that the energy supply companies take us very seriously. It will also reduce the risk of suppliers claiming that you have a verbal agreement with them.

When you decide on an offer we then ask the supplier to produce the contract. This is then checked to ensure that it does not have any clauses which do not reflect the understanding reached, such as allowing the supplier to increase your prices quarterly.

Q – Why can’t I get a reasonable price for my Hotel, public house/restaurant energy supply?

A – Favoured business refers to the business that are favourable targets for the energy supply companies, and obviously the business types not on the list will endure some sort of sanction. The sanctions experienced by “unfavourable businesses” could be a higher price structure, or indeed a refusal to offer a contract. The economic condition of the industry, as seen by the suppliers, is what drives this activity. Hence, if you run a public house/hotel/restaurant, as a tenant in the year 2010, you may have already experienced difficulty in achieving a reasonable price for your energy. You may also have been declined as a customer.

Q – Smart meters, what are they and do I need them?

A – Smart meters are a way of identifying how you use your energy and when you use it. They also have the added benefit of making your energy bills more accurate, as theoretically, they eliminate the supplier’s need to estimate your bill.

Q – Do I have to get smart meters from my supplier?

A – No, like most reasonably new technology smart meters are often used as an inducement to renew your contract with your current supplier, without a full market analysis. It is also important to realise that this is an opportunity for the supplier to sell you a service which may be difficult to value; there are also independent sources for smart metering.

Remember that if you acquire your smart meters from any supplier, it is vital that you will have access to the data, or in the worst scenario this could rob you of the chance to monitor the site.

Q – How will smart meters help me run my business?

A – Through a process of continual and regular collation of your usage data, smart meters can identify unintended or incidental energy loss or wastage. For example a client of ours identified that his freezers were increasing in usage and this was most notable at night. When he renewed the door seals on the freezers his energy usage dropped immediately to normal and predicted levels.

Q – Will smart meters save me money?

A – Not necessarily, smart metering is certainly to be regarded as an efficiency tool as it will provide data about your energy usage, principally when and how much is used. The expertise in interpreting the results and subsequent action is what will provide a higher degree of efficiency and thus cheaper business energy.

Q – I heard smart meters will soon be mandatory, is this true?

A – Yes, in some respects. Legislation introduced in April 2009 states that all 05, 06 , 07 & 08 electricity meters types must be smart metered by 1st January 2014. In addition to this all gas meters with an annual consumption in excess of 732,000 kWh must also be smart metered by 1st January 2014.

Q – How do I know if a price is good when a supplier makes an offer on the phone?

A – It is very easy to be seduced into believing that a verbal offer from a supplier is too attractive to miss, this is usually as a result of skilful presentation on the part of the would be supplier. These contracts sometimes differ dramatically from the impression held by the customer, leading to extended disputes.

Given the complexity of supplier pricing plans and the many elements which make up energy prices, it is always best to ask for the full terms to be sent in writing, as no respectable supplier would refuse such a request.

Often the offer is made with the rider that the decision has to made there and then, please do not be tempted by this ploy. Energy prices do fluctuate but for direct sales rarely more than once a day.

Q – Does estimated billing mean overcharging?

A – The answer to this is simple, not if you are prepared to take regular meter readings.

If you have a dispute with a supplier, because they have a direct debit arrangement with you and you feel they have overcharged, it is a simple process to provide them with actual readings together with the date they were taken on. You can then be sure that you will pay only for what you have used. Otherwise, just give us in the information regularly and we will do it for you.

Q – Why would you have a better chance of getting good value for me?

A – Firstly our team of energy professionals know the industry well, and if we don’t know something, we will know how to find out. We have clients throughout the UK, in all types of businesses of all sizes, so we have lots of experience. We also have cutting edge software which allows us to raise a tender or make a complex enquiry in a split second.  If we are engaged to negotiate your energy prices we will  however, only do a first class job if there is a single dialogue with the suppliers. The reason for this is reflected in the number of customers who are angry because they feel that they have been taken advantage of by a supplier, when they are informed that they have agreed to a new contract verbally. It pays therefore, to let us do the whole thing as we place many millions of gas and electricity units every year, and we give everyone the same advice “do not enter into verbal contracts”.

Q – What do I get from using your service?

A – We monitor all of your energy accounts using powerful software which enables us to take advantage of market fluctuations. It is a common misconception that energy prices are reasonably static, where as in reality they can change many times every day. This allows us to, in certain circumstances, advise you to go the market early (sometimes months before the end of your current contract).

We make sure that you will not become victim of a rollover (your contract being renewed without your explicit consent). In these circumstances the supplying company can renew your contract for up to three years on any price that they choose. Believe it or not this is quite legal and binding. You have no say in the process. Our software automatically terminates any contract that you are currently in, thus eliminating the possibility of a rollover.

Remember, it is a regrettable fact that customer loyalty has little meaning in a market so urgently in pursuit of profit. It pays to remember that no single supplier has continuous advantage on pricing, regardless of their size or buying power, hence it is questionable whether any loyalty could be rewarded. The massive profits regularly reported by these companies are not achieved without complete dedication.

Q – Why does ‘switching sites’  not deliver real savings?

A – “Switching sites” were never intended to serve commercial premises; they were specifically designed to provide a predictable, marginal saving from the full retail price. Hence the claims made by many of these sites that they will save you £375 per annum.

All businesses qualify for a keener price structure, often referred to as trade or wholesale price, giving much greater savings. The only feasible way to access this much keener price structure, comprehensively, is to raise a tender to all relevant potential suppliers.

You have probably already concluded just how complex and time consuming the tendering process will be. If you can’t dedicate the time because of your own business commitments, do what some of the largest corporations do, consult our professional tendering service.

Q – Why do sites which seem similar attract different pricing?

A – This is usually to do with transport costs. This term refers to the fees paid by your supply company to your local energy transporter, which is the company in your area who is responsible for the maintenance of the local infrastructure.

There are several technical considerations concerning transport costs which may affect your unit charges or your standing charge.

Another reason for site price variation can be the type of meter that you have, few people realise that having a meter which is inappropriate to your energy usage profile can dramatically affect price efficiency.