It’s tough to run a company against younger competitors and even more so when the market continues to change. Sometimes the difficulty of running a business past your prime years can really get to you, However, it’s never too late to run a business and it sure is the same when switching your energy service provider. Here are a few things to consider if you want to keep your A game against one of the biggest hurdles in a business – energy bills.
Keep yourself up to date
News on price hikes isn’t difficult to find. Most of it you can see in the news or on the web with a little bit of research as I’ve said before. It’s important for you to have a general idea of where the current market is going before you get a second opinion. Just recently, three big names in the energy market have decided to have consistent price increases. Considering British Gas, EDF, and Scottish Power, the three of them have not shown any signs of backing down from each other. Other energy suppliers might just take their example and put up a similar business plan. It’s better to get a hold of them while they’re still at a cheaper rate.
Finding ‘The One’
Next, you have to identify if you’re eligible for a business energy service. If you don’t have a separate place where you’re operating your business, then you might not be able to get a business tariff unless your current bill consists of more than half of your energy spent on running business functions. If not, you can always find a cheap domestic provider of energy.
Things have got a lot easier with the age of the Internet. Service providers no longer have to be found in the yellow pages or through newspaper clippings. But then again, now it’s a lot harder to weed out the bad services out there. To help with the hassle, price consultants are available on the web like Utility Bidder that give you a second opinion on different energy brokers, including online brokers, and their comparative prices.
After considering the switch
Once you’ve decided on the energy provider, you have to be sure before engaging with them that you’re going to benefit from it. The good thing about making the switch is you’ll be able to haggle for your price range. This is usually where the business tariff comes in handy where business energy brokers are allowed to be a little looser with their pricing compared to domestic energy suppliers.
As with everything, have a keen eye before signing the papers. More often than not, when you’re locked into a contract you can’t back-out mid-way. Several contracts automatically renew and lock you into another contract with them. The short window of a renewal period is what you should take note of for your previous provider and the one you’ll want to get as this is the best time to make arrangements to get out of your current energy relationship.