News

You may recently have seen news reports concerning David Cameron’s energy statement to the House of Commons.  In October of this year, Mr Cameron indicated energy companies would be duty bound to offer the lowest tariff to their customers, leading to  speculation on what effect this would have on business gas and commercial electricity prices. His announcement stirred up a rather large amount of confusion, not least to his own energy minister Ed Davey and the energy department, who appeared to be unaware that this was government policy, or that this announcement was going to be made.  It also caught the energy industry itself off balance, which led to further speculation and confusion within the media, as journalists attempted to pin down the Prime Minister and extract exactly what was meant by this policy statement.

Hidden commercial electricity costs

The first thing to say is that although the proposal seems laudable at face value, the energy companies quickly responded by highlighting their own increased costs associated with development and restructuring projects, required in order to ensure future energy supply to the UK. In addition to the complexities of the global wholesale energy market, welcome changes are also being implemented in order to fulfill environmental objectives, in terms of scaling down fossil-fuel energy sources.  Again, these all carry an associated cost which could easily be added to gas and electricity prices. Considering many businesses invest money and take time to comparecommercial electricity prices and gas tariffs, it’s unlikely that anyone will voluntarily pay more than the lowest price and the energy companies will therefore resist such changes. Furthermore, the Federation of Small Businesses has actually warned the coalition government that forcing the energy companies into this corner could actually hamper competition, as they respond by setting standard charges at a higher rate. In terms of commercial electricity prices, the main point to take away is that which ever way the debate pans out in the coming months, it is unlikely to change the market in the short-term.  And despite pressure from some quarters, it seems only set to affect the domestic market, rather than the commercial sphere. Therefore, and despite this news, it remains paramount that any business continue to compare commercial electricity prices and use a broker such as Utility Helpline to ensure the right energy deals are always sourced and secured for their business. Contact us for more information on how UHL can help you bring down your commercial electricity costs.