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A recent NPower survey of 500 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) made for extremely interesting reading. What emerged from the research is the central notion that businesses are already well aware of the need to address their energy consumption and source the right business energy rates.  40% acknowledged they needed to address energy efficiency and over 60% agreed fixing their energy expenditure would assist with future budgeting.  However, set against that, 25% admitted that despite their acknowledgement of the situation, they are still yet to do anything about their energy efficiency. So… what we can glean from this is that business operators (as we already know) are smart cookies and are well aware they need to do something about their business energy bills, both in terms of efficiencies, and the bills themselves.  And yet… one out of every four hasn’t made a single move.  So what’s the issue?  Well perhaps it’s this: over 40% of businesses polled cited a reason for their inaction.  Lack of time.  Put simply, they are so preoccupied with running their businesses in a tough, unforgiving economic climate that they simply can’t countenance redirecting their energies into thinking about their business energy usage. Well, here at Utility Helpline we have two immediate thoughts for you to take away; one philosophical, one functional.  Firstly, we can agree sorting out energy bills will save money… perhaps thousands long term, depending on the size of the business and energy consumption.  So let’s turn things around, and imagine that money as income… as new business, in effect.  You would certainly invest the time and energy in pursuing new business and the income it provides, but for some reason, businesses find it harder to conceive that same dynamic when it comes to savings.  So, consider the savings as de facto income, and it may look altogether more worthwhile. Secondly, we can further assuage any concerns about time constraints by clarifying that in any case, the only time you need to invest is extremely minimal.  All you really need to do is take the time to pick up the phone, and call Utility Helpline.  Having taken that first step, we can then assist in giving your business an energy ‘once over’, before scouring the market for the deal that suits your needs, perhaps suggesting you switch provider, or fix costs to establish certainty moving forwards. So, time really is money.  Allocating the time to take that first step to finding the right business energy deals can soon translate to very real cost savings… and the only time you need to invest is the time it takes to pick up the phone!   Save