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For small businesses, the bills aren't adding up
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Small Businesses Next to Feel Fuel Pinch
Writes Dan Drage dan.drage@consumerchoices.co.uk
It’s not just UK households that are coming under an increasing threat from the onset of fuel poverty.
Research undertaken by Electricity4Business, a supplier of energy to small and medium sized businesses, shows that almost 1 in 5 small businesses spend more than 10% of annual turnover on energy bills. Another 22% of small businesses are currently on the cusp of the fuel poverty line.
Over 1000 small businesses took part in the survey, with each business employing 20 members of staff or less. It was discovered energy bills are now the second most prominent cost for these companies, behind staff wages. Premises rental and equipment costs came in at numbers three and four.
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"22% of small businesses are currently on the cusp of the fuel poverty line"
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Smaller companies are not doing all they can to avoid these spiralling prices according to Electricity4Business’ research. Only 1 in 5 knows when their contract is up for renewal and 51% claim that they don’t read the small print of their terms and conditions so remain unaware of their contractual obligations.
Jonathan Elliott, managing director of specialist business to business price comparison site makeitcheaper.com had the following to say:
‘According to consumer group, Energywatch, one in six households are living in fuel poverty but this research is even more shocking’
He continues:
‘Here we have a greater proportion, one in five, of small businesses already forced beneath the threshold by rising energy costs, coupled with a poor choice of contract. The figures are only going to get worse unless business owners become more savvy about when their contracts come up for renewal and shop around for competitive rates.’
Each time an energy bill rises by 1%, 40,000 more people are plunged into fuel poverty. This is a further conclusion drawn by Energywatch.
Chris Eagle, Commercial Manager at Credit Choices, acknowledges bills sent by the big six energy companies can be confusing:
‘A number of small businesses simply pay their energy bills without question, primarily due to the confusing nature of the bill’s layout. For those of you who think you’re paying too much, get in touch with makeitcheaper.com and ask if they can help you.’
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