Government figures have shown that large and medium sized companies in the UK have paid the highest prices for electricity compared to any other country in the EU15 in 2018. In the lead up to June, earlier this year, UK power prices rose by 8.4% (for medium sized firms), but by an average of only 1.8% for the rest of the EU15. Small firms are also at a disadvantage, with only Ireland, Italy and Germany paying more for their electricity.
UK businesses have also been warned that energy prices are going to rise even higher this winter. This, joint with the looming ESOS Phase 2 deadline. has made now a more important time than ever to start reviewing how your business is managing its energy. We offer a FREE Zero-Commitment Energy Consultation at Ecusol, outlining how you can manage, use and source your energy to drastically reduce power costs.
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But Why Are We Paying so Much More Than the Rest of Europe?
A report from the University College in London states that between 2008 and 2012, a surge in gas prices resulted in higher energy prices for the EU. After 2012, power prices in Europe evened out, whereas prices in the UK continued rising.
In addition, other countries recover more policy costs from domestic users, resulting in lower energy tariffs for industrial consumers. This has all eventually led to a price gap of around 33% between the UK and Europe for industrial consumers.
What Do They Recommend for Businesses?
The report, written by UCL researchers, gives six key recommendations in order to cut electricity prices to bring the UK in line with other countries like France and Germany. One of the most notable proposals is that the UK should remove barriers to investment in solar and wind power, the cheapest of the mature renewables. PV solar and wind turbines guard businesses against the UK’s high, and continually rising, energy prices and can be installed with no initial capital outlay and financed with low Interest tax efficient loans and/or power purchase agreements. (Check out our article on how solar and wind are now the cheapest sources of energy generation here).
They also suggest ensuring that when the UK leaves the European Union, they will leave in a way that keeps unrestricted access to the internal energy market and supports continued investment in interconnection with continental grids.
Another recommendation for the UK government involves establishing a long-term market of zero carbon and tradeable electricity contracts to simplify industry access to low cost and unsubsidised sources of renewable electricity such as onshore wind. Industrial customers would then avoid paying the carbon price.
Read all the recommendations from the report here.
How We Can Help
As well as supplying businesses with a range of renewable products such as wind turbines and PV solar, we are a fully independent registered utility broker so are guaranteed to find the best deal for your energy prices. We also have full market access to low and zero carbon commercial energy suppliers to reduce your carbon footprint and allow your business to avoid paying the carbon price. Our energy team will review your current contracts and price your energy up to 12 months in advance to outline the huge savings you can make over the next year.
Additionally, the Ecusol Energy Management System can help you measure and analyse your consumption of electric/gas and water. Our Live Energy Monitoring is very easy to install and cost effective. It will identify where your company, plant, and machinery etc is least efficient and what would be required to improve it..
Call us on 0191 375 9644 or fill out our contact form here to discuss how you can reduce your energy costs, or to start generating your own electricity via wind and solar.