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Up to 2.54 million SMEs may be missing out on energy savings because they lack an understanding of their utilities expenditures, new research has shown.
The study by energy and water consultancy Utilitywise found that despite business owners being concerned about the rising energy costs, more than 52 per cent of them do not know how much they spend on their utilities as a percentage of their overheads.
Less than a third know how to access information regarding their energy consumption, while 66 per cent of SME business owners delegate their utilities buying and management to other staff, including their office managers, the report said.
Commenting on the findings Utilitywise’s Michael Dent said: “Our study shows there is a lot of confusion about utilities amongst small businesses. Misinformation and misunderstanding mean small businesses are suffering because they don’t know how to navigate the utilities markets nor have the consumption necessary to act for themselves.”
Following the report findings the company introduced a new service called Utilitywise Energy Alliance last month, which uses ‘collective buying power’ to get the same competitive energy deals for SMEs as larger companies.
By grouping small businesses together, it gives SMEs the simplicity of a fixed energy price with all the advantages of buying energy flexibly on the wholesale market, Utilitwise said.
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