The announcement by uswitch – the consumer market comparison and switching service – that consumer energy bills are set to rise by a further 40% over the coming months pales into insignificance compared with the ‘shock’ about to hit UK businesses. supplierswitch.com calculates that the average rate of increase for corporate energy users will be between 60 and 100 percent year-on-year.
To compound this, the majority of businesses are blissfully unaware of the increases that await them when they renegotiate their annual fixed price, fixed term energy contracts between now and the end of 2008. Anecdotally, UK businesses have only budgeted for a rise of around ten percent.
The lucky ones will be able to pass these increases on to their customers – delivering consumers with another increase in the cost of living driven by rising energy prices. The unlucky ones will be faced with the unpleasant prospect of seeing the increased cost of energy bills coming directly off of their bottom line.
Despite unprecedented energy market volatility and rising wholesale prices, however, energy remains one of the top five controllable costs for businesses. To find out how visit www.supplierswitch.com
