Following the introduction of significant increases in electricity standing charges in April, advisers are warning that energy contracts should be thoroughly reviewed before renewal and any new offers should be subject to special scrutiny.
Amidst general concerns regarding rising energy prices, customers are sometimes presented with contracts that appear to be better deals but may contain ambiguous terms and higher total costs, warns Dan Cox, head of fuel, utilities and member possible elsewhere, but check for any charges associated with the changes, advises Dan.
Individual half-hourly meter capacity reviews These can also bring substantial savings where the peak use is regularly lower than the current capacity.
Where this is the case, a request can be made to the district network operator to reduce the capacity, which enables a move to a lower capacity band with a lower daily standing charge.
A word of caution on this: if it is expected that greater capacity may be needed in future – for example, for a change in the business such as a diversification – it could be tricky and/or expensive to regain the original capacity rate.
Example savings though de-energisation and capacity reviews
Grain store A 210-day de-energisation saved £3,560 in total, made up of the £10.38 daily standing charge being reduced to £1.80 a day and the removal of the capacity charge saving £6.57 a day.
Irrigation pumps A capacity review brought an annual saving of £6,007.90 by moving from the original pre-review capacity of 200kva (band 3) with a standing charge of £13.99/day (£433.69/month) and a capacity charge of 8.38p/kva/day = £16.76/day (£519.56/month). After review, the meter capacity was reduced to 84kVa (band 1) and the
