Hunt to announce drastic reduction in energy bill support for businesses

This week, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will announce a far less generous revamp of the energy support scheme for businesses amidst 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, Hunt stated the package would be unsustainable for taxpayers, announcing the 12-month extension support package would scale down subsidies by £20bn, 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 per cent in the last year alone, according to Cornwall Insight. In addition, a report by the Federation of Small Business found that 53 per cent of small businesses will stagnate, decline or fold in the next 12 months.

This is even more concerning when you consider that 53 per cent 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 per cent) 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 per cent) 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 per cent of SME owners in the UK believe that it’s important to be sustainable, but struggle because of a lack of guidance.

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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