How summer trading patterns can affect your business energy costs
How summer trading patterns can affect your business energy costs
Summer can make a business energy bill look very different from the rest of the year.
Staff take annual leave. Opening hours change. Production may slow down or increase. Offices become quieter, while hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses may experience one of their busiest periods.
That change in routine matters because energy figures are only useful when they are considered alongside what was happening in the business at the time.
A low August bill does not necessarily mean your energy contract is suddenly better value. Equally, a rise in consumption does not automatically mean that something has gone wrong.
The important question is whether the figures make sense for the way the business has been operating.
Why summer energy use can be misleading
A business might use less energy during August because employees are away, machinery is operating for fewer hours or the premises are closed over the bank holiday.
Another business may use more because it has extended its opening hours, increased refrigeration or air conditioning, or welcomed more customers.
Both situations are completely understandable.
The difficulty arises when a temporary summer pattern is treated as though it represents the business’s normal annual usage.
Historic consumption is often used when energy contracts are reviewed. If a particularly quiet or busy period is considered without context, it can create an inaccurate picture of what the business may need in the future.
That is why it helps to keep a simple record of changes to opening hours, staffing, production and equipment use.
You do not need a complicated energy-management system. A note explaining that the business closed for a week, operated reduced shifts or extended its weekend opening hours can be surprisingly useful when the next bill arrives.
Check more than the amount due
It is easy to look at an energy bill, find the total and decide whether it seems higher or lower than expected.
However, the bill may also contain information worth checking more carefully.
Look at whether the reading is actual or estimated. Check that the meter number matches the meter on site. If the business has several meters or premises, make sure every supply is accounted for.
I recently renewed a care home’s contracts for another three years and still managed to save the client money.
While reviewing everything, I also found another meter on the site that had gone out of contract. We were able to resolve that supply as part of the wider renewal rather than allowing it to continue unnoticed.
Businesses do not always come to me with a perfectly organised list of meters, suppliers and contract dates.
Helping them establish what they have, what may have been missed and when action is needed is often part of the process.
Summer can be a good time to organise multiple contracts
Managing energy becomes more difficult when a business has several sites or contracts ending at different times.
One location may be operating reduced summer hours while another is particularly busy. One contract may have another year left to run while another is approaching its end date.
Looking at each bill separately can make it difficult to see the complete picture.
A wider review can help identify:
- Which meters and sites are included
- When each contract ends
- Whether any supply is already out of contract
- How usage differs between locations
- Whether renewal dates could eventually be brought together
Where possible, bringing several contracts onto one renewal date can make them much easier to manage in future.
It reduces the number of separate deadlines the business needs to monitor and lowers the risk of one supply being overlooked.
You may be able to review earlier than you think
Many businesses assume they cannot discuss a renewal until the current contract is close to ending.
That is not always the case.
Depending on the supplier, contract and level of usage, I can sometimes begin reviewing the options up to two years before the agreement ends.
That does not mean committing to a new contract immediately.
It creates time to check the existing paperwork, understand the business’s usage, compare the available options and decide when it makes sense to act.
This is particularly helpful when summer figures do not represent a normal trading month.
Rather than making a rushed decision based on one recent bill, the business has time to build a clearer picture of its energy needs.
Use the quieter weeks to get organised
Summer energy use will not look the same for every business.
What matters is understanding why it has changed and whether your current contracts still reflect how the business operates.
Take current meter readings, check your contract dates and make a note of any temporary changes to your opening hours or activity.
You do not need to solve everything before asking for support.
Sometimes the most useful place to start is simply working out what you have.