Like most things in life – you need a little forethought to do it well. And managing your business gas and electricity bill is no different. At PH Energy Services we review the current and future costs of your energy constantly, so that when it’s time to renew we have a clear picture of what you use and how much you pay. It’s mistake to not give your energy purchasing needs until the time your contract is due to end.
The benefits of budgeting
For most of our customers energy is one of their top five spends – its up there with staffing for example. But energy can also be essential for your business. Take the example of a charity that provides residential care – you don’t the option to cut heating or air conditioning. So one way to control your energy prices is to strategically manage your energy contracts.
By calculating current annualised energy spend across your portfolio, we can benchmark renewal rates, forecast total future costs and provide regular pricing updates.
If your portfolio of sites is split across multiple contracts we can provide a strategy for consolidation and provide accurate forecasts.
Making the most of price fluctuations
Commercial energy prices change all the time because they follow the commodity price curve for both electricity and gas. The prices are affected by weather, geopolitical issues and basic supply and demand for both fuels. It’s important to understand how these fundamentals can affect the price you pay and be in a position to protect budgets or lock in savings quickly.
How levies affect your business
The many (and ever-changing!) regulatory charges are now also a significant proportion of the unit rates you pay for your commercial gas and electricity. These are the charges for getting the electricity or gas to your meter – and charges that help in reaching carbon reduction targets. These charges also include the new levies such as FiTs (Feed in Tariffs) RO (Renewable Obligation), CCL (Climate Change Levy) and CfDs (Contracts for Difference). The experts at PH Energy Services are able to advise on the impact that any regulatory changes may have on your energy spend and your business making sure you’re always one step ahead and get the right deal.
Forecasts are our forte
We understand you are busy running a business. But somebody needs to keep on top of your energy usage, needs and costs. Without an understanding of this data, you can’t actually predict what you will need to spend in the future. We provide renewal forecast costs for all our customers either on pre-agreed regular intervals or on request at any time.
Our market information provides decision support on tender timing and contract duration and our post-tender report gives you a full audit trail on the tender process.
If market conditions suggest that going to market early, say a year ahead of your current end date, it’s great to have a record of your decisions. Detail of the market conditions, trends and analytics, prices and the context for the decisions made at the time can provide an invaluable platform when it’s time to tender again.
Fixing the financials
It’s great in business to be able to know what future spends will be – and PH Energy Services can help you achieve this for gas and electricity costs. Our reports accurately forecast renewal costs against current spend. The reports use up-to-date usage information; they are tailored to your needs and will include all the information that you need to meet your company’s financial reporting standards and timescales.
Many of our customers, particularly housing associations, hotels and restaurants need to fix internal prices quite a long way in advance. It’s critical to them to have a view of all the costs for the financial year ahead and know exactly what their commercial electricity ands gas costs are going to be. We ensure that there are no nasty surprises midway through a financial year allowing the customer to set their prices with confidence.
Keeping an eye on prices (so you don’t have to)
Commercial gas and electricity rates move up and down all the time – prices react to supply and demand, political and natural events and even to perceived threats. This means that forecasts need to be refreshed and benchmarked in order to be meaningful. but it can be hard to continually analyse what is happening in the market.
Our years of experience mean that we can interpret market movements and support you in your decision-making process to ensure you get the optimum deal for your business. Nothing gets past us in our desire to seek out the most keenly-priced contracts!