How to cut the cost of your utility bills

25 August 2009

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It is easy when you are so busy looking after your core business to overlook the areas where you could be making savings. Here, we tell you how paying attention to your utility bills could get your business a better deal.

Little attention is paid to gas and electricity bills, but with current price increases they can have a significant impact on your profitability. So, it's worth being aware of how much you're paying - and how much you could save.

Can you answer the following questions:

Do YOU know if you have a contract for your energy supply?

And if you do know you are in a contract, do you know when it ends?

Almost all utility contracts are "evergreen", which means they have small print that allows the provider to rollover the contract for a further year or two, if the customer does not respond to correspondence sent to them.

It is important to know when these contract anniversaries occur, because for you to accept lowest price you must cancel the current agreement in due time. If your contract is rolled over, you can be sure the rates you will have to pay will be far higher than those that you are currently paying.

Due to a lack of industry control, each supplier sets up their own rules. This makes it as hard as possible for you, the customer, to know what is going on. Cancelling agreements does NOT mean that your provider will cut off supply either immediately or at the end of the contract. All that will happen is that they will be at pains to give the very best renewal price, because they will know that you can move your supply to accept a better price.

The length of notice you need to give your current supplier before cancelling your current contract depends on your supplier. Use the table below as a guide:

Three months	British Gas Business, Npower
Two months	Scottish Power
One month	EDF, Scottish & Southern Energy and E-on. (Note: E-on will only accept your notice in a set "window" just before the contract end date.)

You must also make allowances for non-arrival of your renewal letters, or for them ending up in your pending tray until it is too late and your provider has rolled over your contract into another year at a higher price.

How the FPB can help

We are partnered with Utility Options, an independent gas and electricity broker, who over the last fourteen years, has helped hundreds of our members to save money.

So, if you are dreading the thought of having to negotiate a new electricity contract this autumn, why not let FPB's Partner Utility Options, do this work for you?

Utility Options will:

Find out the electricity and gas contract details from your current provider and when the contracts have to be renewed.
Prompt you to make arrangements at the right time that will allow you to accept the lowest quotation
Provide a like-for-like quotation for your attention
Give expert advice - as independent consultants they control over 200,000,000 kWhs of electricity and gas, and usually produce a better rate than a single company could find.

Plus, this service comes at no extra cost to our members, Utility Options claim commission from the providers for any business placed.

Find out more about how you can get the best prices for gas and electricity here or call the FPB member helpline on 0845 130 1722 (members) or 0845 612 6266 (non-members)

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How to cut the cost of your utility bills

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