Focus On: Energy Saving

Landlords, developers and businesses alike increasingly need to manage energy in a cost-effective way that acknowledges soaring prices, sourcing green power, and regulatory requirements. A number of industry experts share their expertise on how to manage energy without breaking the bank, with unLTD's Michael Durham and Rachel Measures. 

Why great procurement is essential for net zero 

Linda Spencer, MD of local business energy consultancy Professional Energy Purchasing, discusses how energy procurement has a crucial role to play in delivering better energy management and important net zero goals. 

Buying energy and planning for net zero can often feel like a daunting task, with many businesses unsure where to even begin.

We help businesses to secure the best procurement contracts to meet their objectives, reduce their energy through data analysis and efficiency audits, and plan to achieve net zero carbon.

Choosing the right contract

With energy prices soaring to reach levels not seen for years, businesses need to have a well-considered energy plan in place.

Many of our clients are moving away from traditional fixed-term contracts, which would lock them in at these current high rates, to more flexible dynamic contracts which spread the risk. Industry charging is also changing, which will affect business energy pricing.

Having no contract in place will generate even higher variable rates so it’s important that businesses make sure they arrange contracts before they move to out of contract terms.

When businesses are looking to reduce their energy use as part of their efficiency drive, they need to ensure this is co-ordinated with existing contract terms.

Take or pay contracts will charge for the forecast power, whether it is used or not, which could be significant and may impact on payback periods.

Using data to reduce energy

Reducing energy is the first step to a greener business. Having solid data which explains how much energy is used, and where and when it is used, is essential for a clear actionable plan.

It will help to identify savings opportunities, allow you to set realistic targets and measure success.

Reducing out of hours waste which can be picked up through occupancy reports taken from half hourly meters can be a quick win, save money and help drive behavioural change.

A detailed energy audit will identify additional opportunities for energy savings across site(s) to generate a robust, costed plan which operational KPI’s can be created and measured against to involve the whole business.

Buying renewable energy

Buying green energy generated by renewable sources has become much more accessible, with suppliers offering most or all electricity from zero-carbon sources.

Buying good quality REGO backed renewable energy will help you meet Scope 2 emission reporting, a net zero requirement, although costs may be prohibitive as demand has considerably pushed up prices.

With renewable energy having ongoing limited capacity which drives up prices, a solution might be to have on-site energy generation to store volumes needed and then buy when renewable energy generation is high and market prices are stable.

Get in touch for a chat about your business energy to see how the team can help you by calling 0114 327 2645 or emailing info@pepgb.com

Introducing Home Services Assistance 

Sheffield-based Home Services Assistance chatted to unLTD about their approach to providing top quality plumbing and heating services that won’t break the bank. 

Home Services Assistance was established in June 2013, and aims to provide first-class boiler breakdown and home emergency cover by delivering excellent customer service across Yorkshire, Midlands and parts of Lancashire.

Our ambition is to drive customer experience to the next level, which is why we strive to provide the latest information about the industry and are committed to keeping all of our customers up to date with regulations that may affect them.

Since we started as a business, we’ve gone from strength to strength. In 2022, we’ll be expanding our offering by becoming a one-stop shop for home maintenance including services like electric, roofing, and even cleaning.

We find the biggest cause of increased costs for our customers is usually down to efficiency. A poorly optimised or failing system will use more gas than necessary, and subsequently cause monthly bills to become far more expensive.

We offer a health check on your whole business premises or home, checking often neglected aspects such as identifying individual radiators for cleaning, to ensure it’s all running just as you would expect.

Replacing a system is another one of the biggest costs, so we want to do everything we can to help customers identify problems before they become costly.

We ask customers to keep an eye out for dead giveaways like strange noises, signs of rust in the water, inconsistencies in temperature or a dated water heater – all of which are tell-tale clues you should give us a call.

Alternatively, our Home Care Cover is a great solution for customers that don’t want to get caught out with unexpected costs by spreading the costs of servicing, breakdown and repair across the year.

When things go wrong, our team operate on a 24-7 basis, meaning you can be sure your plumbing and heating will be working again as soon as possible.

We work with a lot of landlords who own multiple properties, so we ensure our clients get their properties looked at quickly as we understand they’re relying on rental income.

We believe that knowledge is power, and that educated customers are happier customers.

For more information and advice, visit our website at homeservicesassistance.co.uk

How to avoid costly utility delays

Dean Pattison, director of utility consultants Utility Source, shares some of the most common issues that their customers overlook which cause costly utility delays.   

For most of the businesses that we work with, which range from property investors to major developers, saving money is an important consideration – that’s why we educate our customers on the best way to approach this challenge.

We explain the most cost-effective methods of installing new services, the industry options enabling a customer to have a choice of installer and the complicated processes required to achieve a serviced building.

Utility timescales now tend to fall by the wayside as it’s become a more competitive environment with multiple parties making it a challenging experience, leading to significant delays.

Over the last couple of years, other variables have been introduced - like lockdowns, furlough, Brexit and the changeover of framework contractors – generating even more delays many installers haven’t fully recovered from.

It’s important that we help to solve these delays by setting the correct expectations at an early stage. If a customer understands the processes, the expectations of the installer and the timescales involved they will avoid delays which will ultimately help them avoid funding penalties.

It isn’t always possible to help a customer to save money on a utility installation, but there are some opportunities. We can help by advising the client on the best installation method, or by describing the principle of competition in connections designed to deliver a more competitive market.

One other area where we’ve been successful is our understanding of an installation’s technicalities. There have been instances where contractor quotes have been included for work such as diversions, which is essentially the network owner moving their infrastructure at the cost of the client.

With proper research and communication, the correct challenge often results in the diversionary work and additional cost being removed.

We were recently appointed as the utility’s coordinator at a small new build site in Wakefield.  When the electric quote came to us from Northern PowerGrid, it included a fee of £12k to divert a low voltage electric main, but we couldn’t see any justification for diverting the cable.

Following further investigation, it was identified that the cable was laid through the parcel of land several years ago without an easement.  This meant that there was no paperwork providing legal consent for maintenance. We prepared a proposal which had two options, the first being to move the cable at the network’s cost. The second was to leave the cable in position and capture it within a new easement. Several conversations later, £12K was removed from the quotation - sometimes just taking time to make a challenge in the right way can help the customer manage unnecessary costs.