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Protecting Business from Energy Price Rises


Posted: 27th June 2022 14:05

With the energy market looking as turbulent as ever and stories continuing to show the rising energy prices that may continue through to the end of the year, it’s becoming something of a crunch point for businesses looking to cut down on increasing costs.

Many businesses are turning to energy consultancies like https://consultus.com/ to discover some of the best ways to cut down on these prices whilst also working to achieve net zero targets laid out in the UK too, but what else can businesses do to ensure they’re protected from the energy crunch and see costs come down?

Remote and downscaling

Over the past couple of years one of the more major changes to come to business has been the shift to remote work for a larger number of employees – and whilst there has been a recent push to return the office, moving remote and downscaling the number of employees in the office at any one time can be a great way to reduce costs.

This does come with the downside of not being a realistic approach for all businesses and particularly larger businesses that will see a major increase in energy pricing, and this option should only be a consideration for businesses that may have already committed to a more remote-focused working schedule.

New energy deals and PPA’s

A tip regularly given to individuals to cut down on their energy prices is to regularly look at different providers to secure the best deals and this is the same for businesses too as shopping the market can lead to the best prices.

For businesses specifically, however, there is a better solution – power purchase agreements or PPAs. These are a unique type of deal available to businesses that can secure a pricing arrangement for up to 15 years and come much below consumer market prices – they’re complex and require a consultancy to set up as existing knowledge of market availability and usage is needed but can be the best solution for avoiding the current energy price crunch.

Makes changes to business processes

As part of the process to reach a net zero goal by 2030, many businesses may have already started to adjust some of the essential processes that run day-to-day operations, but it may also be a great way to cut back on energy usage too if areas are found where energy usage is unnecessarily high. This would be part of any standard approach to achieving net zero too so if a consultancy is used to seek out other solutions such as PPA options, they may also be able to offer tools or assistance with identifying where change can be made internally for the biggest benefit. Not all processes can change, and some will remain essential, but there’s likely a surprising amount of adjustment that can be made with some guidance that will lead to big savings that may have been expected.

As energy prices show no signs of slowing down, now is the best time to look for solutions and potential adjustments that will lead to longer savings in the long run, whilst also making efficient changes to meet reducing energy demands.