Apathy towards their energy bills is costing North East businesses significant amounts of money.
That’s the message from Great Annual Savings Group (GAS), after analysing the savings it generated for North East customers in 2016. GAS’ response to the figures has been to introduce a new tool to help businesses.
GAS made an average saving of 21% for its newly-acquired North East based clients, which shows that there are tangible opportunities for businesses to reduce their outgoings at a time when the rising price of energy is firmly in the spotlight.
That saving percentage rises to as high as 46% for those who don’t prioritise their energy strategy and allow themselves to run onto eye-watering out-of-contract rates.
GAS’ response to the figures has been to introduce a new tool to help businesses get a new quote quicker and easier than ever. Dubbed ‘The Bill Doctor’, businesses can now upload their bills direct to the Group’s website and hear back from an energy savings expert with potential savings. This is in contrast to the time-consuming phone calls and processes which can dissuade busy business owners from switching suppliers.
The new tool also works for telecoms and water bills, which will prove invaluable to firms when the water market becomes deregulated in April this year.
Bradley Groves, chief executive and chairman of Great Annual Savings Group, said: “With the current climate of uncertainty, it’s more important than ever for businesses to exert complete control on how they spend their money. We always say that you should concentrate on what you can control and your utility bills certainly fall into this category.
“So many firms are dissatisfied with their energy bills and we hope the Bill Doctor will encourage them to do something about it. The service is aimed at people who think they could be paying over-the-odds, but it’s handy for anyone just to get a health check on their situation.
“We’ve always said at GAS that we save our customers time as well as money and this is the latest development in that respect. We’re still growing and still offer our customers cost-saving advice in 12 areas of business expenditure. But this is something extra that allows the busiest of people to make the easiest of enquiries.”
The rising cost of energy is in the news at the moment. Large energy suppliers received a warning not to increase their tariffs from regulator Ofgem last week following the rise in the price of crude oil. Just days later Npower bumped their domestic prices by 9.8 per cent, sparking fears that others will follow suit.
Last year’s Competition Markets Authority (CMA) investigation into the industry found that SMEs in the UK were collectively overpaying by £280 million per year on their energy. Stopping short of capping bills, the CMA issued guidelines for customers to switch supplier on a regular basis.
The Bill Doctor can be accessed at www.greatannualsavings.com/bill-doctor/
Customer study details:
209 new North East businesses’ savings included in study, all of whom were helped by GAS in 2016.
Six of these were paying ‘out of contract’ rates with their current supplier.
Businesses from Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham and Teeside.
CMA Market Report:
Find out more about the CMA’s 2016 report on the Energy Industry: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-publishes-final-energy-market-reforms