Learn About Business Electricity
Never has energy been in the headlines so often, with prices rising dramatically in the last 24 months. Part of the reason is the close link between gas and electricity prices due to the percentage of electricity production from gas fired power stations.
Your Prices
Unlike the business gas market, your electricity is a retrospective payment. Electricity is generated and used; you cannot store electricity so the grid needs to keep a careful balance of supply and demand to maintain the voltage and frequency of current for customers.
When this fails, as it did in the heat wave this summer, blackouts will result. This came home to London businesses in the West End this summer when they lost millions as all power was shut down due to the excessive loads of air-con units in the heat. (See pdf at bottom of page)
Your price will depend on where you are and the transmission costs from generator to consumer, the amount of electricity that has been allocated to you, and your 'loading' or profile of usage.
The type of contract you have will depend on the type of meter supply you have, (see the top left box in a box of numbers on your bill with a big S next to it) . The different supplies are 01-02 -03-04-05-06-07-08 and 00 (half hourly or HH meters).
01-02 codes correspond to domestic supplies with or without night rates.
03-04 are the business equivalent.
05-08 codes have higher usage and greater loading demands.
If you were to plot your usage on a graph over the day, the sharper the peak of your usage will determine the price you pay. There are some clever ways to reduce this and reduce your costs. Drop us a line and we can explain.
And the Half Hourly meters are for those companies using >100,000 kWh per annum.
If your usage creeps up above the 100,000 kWh threshold you will be obliged to install a HH meter at your own cost.
The day to day prices in the larger market reflect the open market conditions, if the Met Office tell us 'its going to be the worst winter in history' (see the large arrow in the graph above -Nov 2005), if there is trouble in the middle east, if Russia cuts off a neighbour, the prices will fluctuate.
Until alternative options are available form a long term investment in nuclear and other non-fossil fuel sources of energy the electricity prices will be tied to the gas market.
For a more in depth view download Business Electricity Review (sorry -to be added soon)
Technology to Reduce Electricity Usage
- Sub Metering
- Smart Lighting
- Motor Controllers
- Chillers & Refrigertaion
Our first advice would be 'Use Less Electricity'
Sub Metering
Knowing what you are paying for is often the best way to manage your energy.
Many businesses take for granted the electricity/gas supply and are never in a position to know if equipment is efficient or not. Installation of simple inexpensive sub-meters linked to tracking software can show the hour by hour of different units, production lines, storage facilities or individual pieces of equipment.
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Installation of sub-metering is realtively inexpensive and is coupled with software to track your facilities usage. If you do not have the personnel with knowledge and tarining BusinessSwitch can offer a n energy bureau service to operate this for yoyu.
Once you know the detail of your usage you are in a stronger position to implement and monitor cost saving strategies.
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Examples of Electricity Reducing Technology
Smart Lighting
Thousands of warehouses up and down the country are lit by high level sodium lights or elderly strip lights that eat electricity and provide very little light.Energy efficient lighting that reduces consumption by ~50%, uses smart technology to maximise ambient daylight and has efficient reflectors can provide a payback time of as little as 18mths
If your company has an environmental policy statement that includes reducing your carbon footprint you should consider replacing existing ********with carbon neutral technology.
Such solutions would reduce you company carbon emissions and reduce your costs.
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Motor Controllers
Electric motors lack intelligent power control, as a result the excess energy pulled by a motor, once it is up and running, is converted into heat, this wastes your money and reduces the life of your motors.
A businesses that run…
- air conditioning,
- refrigeration,
- conveyors,
- baggage handling,
- escalators, pumps,
- die cast machines,
- crushers,
- presses,
- travelators,
- mixers,
- industrial saws,
- injection moulding machines,
- grinders,
- compressors etc.
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Chillers & Refrigertaion
How many chillers, and refrigeration units, are you paying for to chill air when it is probably colder outside in the car park?Simple technology that uses ambient air to cool throughout the year when outside temperatures are lower than the water being cooled can dramatically reduce your running costs.
Example: A chiller produces water at 12 degrees and receives water back from your machines at 18 degrees. The compressors and pumps of the chiller are high consumption units in terms of cost and resouces.
Fit a forced air pre-cooler, which acts like a car radiator, that takes the returning 18 degree water and runs it through coils cooled by the outside ambient air. It uses a small domestic sized pump and a small electric fan and will cool the returning water to 10 degrees of the outside temperature.
If it is 15-18 degrees outside your water will probably be cooled to a degree that your chiller need not come on.
Pay back times for this type of technology are around 12-20months and will extent the life of your chillers and reduce costs by >50%.
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Getting a quote
Part of the role of Business Switch is to provide clients with quotes and supply contracts. If you would like a quote the basic information we would need is provided on your current supplier electricity bill.Business Switch consultants will take the information and go to the major suppliers contract departments.
The role of your consultant is to use our relationships with these departments to negotiate a best price. This will involve requesting detailed prices from each company and 'encourage' each to be as competitive as possible by reducing their margins.
The most important piece of advice we can give our clients when coming to the end of their contract is:
Ensure that you have sent your termination notice into your existing supplier when you get your renewal notice
Effects of air conditioning on prices.pdf