Many businesses out there are paying twice what they should for their gas and electricity. It’s not a massive percentage, but I come across enough of them to know that it’s a fair few. Some of them have been with the same provider (usually British Gas) since they started the company in 19…. whenever, some of them say “oh yes, I called up 4 companies, bla bla bla was the cheapest by far” others, well others just don’t bother looking and are being rolled into new contracts and don’t know it, or have just been too consumed with “running the company” to look. The fact is, “running the company” means looking at these things, regularly. Once every year perhaps, for some companies (not just big ones) they look at it every day! They have a department that deal with it in some cases.
The truth of the matter is, and we all know this now, that the bottom line is….the bottom line. Reducing these costs is a bloody good idea. No question. So here are a few tips when looking at your contract.
1. Make sure you don’t just shop around. When you enter a contract is just as important as who you get your supply from.
2. Make sure you know the terms. Paying by Direct Debit is still the cheapest option by far. (Up to 20% in some cases) and there are penalties if you start as a DD customer and then cancel it. But there are other aspects like who is responsible for the cost if the business fails…..
3. Find out if (and there almost always is) an automatic renewal is in the agreement. You want to know how to prevent it, diarise it if you have to do it in the future, and you want to know things like when you need to terminate and how.
4. Don’t use switching sites. They are designed to do just that. They make money by making you switch supplier. Usually if you stay with the same one they don’t make a penny, but you could get the best deal from the supplier you’re already with! (They are OK for domestic stuff though… that’s another blog)
5. Brush up. Knowing about things like the trading prices, terminology and even knowing your supply number means you want to do business…. Not get ripped off
This is simple stuff, it’s not hard, and yes I probably sound rude, but businesses love me when I save them a fortune, when the reality is… they shouldn’t be paying so much in the first place.
