Rishi Sunak is on track to halve the financial support on energy bills for businesses amid concerns about cost to the taxpayer. Under the current scheme announced last October by former Prime Minister, Liz Truss, firms were allocated a discount of up to £345 for a megawatt hour of electricity and £91 for a megawatt hour of gas. In November’s Autumn Statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt stated the package would be unsustainable for taxpayers, announcing the 12-month extension support package would scale down subsidies by £20 billion, effectively halving support for businesses.
Though the government aid for small businesses will extend past April, the drastic reduction aimed at shielding the taxpayer has company owners looking for strategies to ease the strain brought on by the rising cost of doing business and energy bills – still facing an increase with the new budget. In light of the dire situation ahead for UK firms, SaveMoneyCutCarbon, the UK’s leading sustainability and money saving platform, offers a free 30-minute carbon mentor call for those seeking guidance on a strategy for sustainability, advice on where to start, what ROI to expect, budgets, and what could be achieved through green initiatives.
Across the board, the energy crisis has eaten into a majority of businesses’ profit margins, with SMEs across the country facing an average bill increase of over 250% in the last year alone, according to Cornwall Insight. In addition, a report by the Federation of Small Business found that 53% of small businesses will stagnate, decline or fold in the next 12 months. This is even more concerning when you consider that 53% of SMEs in the UK are not doing anything to monitor their energy efficiency, and are likely spending far more than they may need to on energy costs. SaveMoneyCutCarbon, explain that shopping around and switching tariffs to reduce energy bills has become obsolete.
The British Chambers of Commerce project that less than half (43%) of UK firms are expecting profitability in the next 12 months, whilst 1-in-4 hospitality and leisure businesses fear closing this year due to the inability to afford energy costs, according to eEnergy. In the wake of this setback, a new study from SaveMoneyCutCarbon has found that over half (51%) of employers in the UK still don’t know where or how to start reducing their carbon emissions. This is supported by research from Ecologi, which found that 42% of SME owners in the UK believe that it’s important to be sustainable, but struggle because of a lack of guidance.
SaveMoneyCutCarbon has years of experience helping companies in auditing, specifying and installing energy-saving projects. In just one year, their services have reduced energy consumption by over 3 million kWh, saved thousands of litres of water and reduced CO2 emissions. Further information about their projects can be found here.
How SaveMoneyCutCarbon’s Carbon Mentor programme works:
Businesses should book a call by filling out a form here.
They will be sent a link to book a 30-minute, no-obligation conversation with one of the team’s IEMA-qualified energy and carbon mentors via Zoom.
The call will focus on how the specific organisation can save energy and water to reduce energy costs, and how this will benefit their profit margins. Whilst issues of carbon reduction was the main driver of calls previously, it has now taken a backseat due to the exponential increase in energy prices. During the call, all applicable technologies are discussed to help the organisation reduce energy and water consumption.
A series of informative guides are supplied to the client, who decides whether they’d be interested in moving forward with the mentorship.
If the business decides to move forward, SaveMoneyCutCarbon will always recommend an audit, to begin with – this measures the amount of energy and water being consumed across the building.
Ways to make reductions are recommended, using an interactive tool which demonstrates the savings and costs associated with the changes.
The client decides if they have the funds to finance any retrofit solutions – or we finance it for them.
SaveMoneyCutCarbon delivers on the project, complete with installation and project management through to maintenance and aftercare.
