The biggest concern any small business has is its bottom line. Energy costs have been a concern for the country for almost a decade now. The average energy bill rose by $100 from last year, and it spells out to be about 34.41 cents per kilowatt-hour over the previous year’s 3 30 cents per kilowatt-hour.
If you run a small business in Australia, you need the best energy plan you can get so that the cost of utilities does not eat into your bottom line. If you are shopping for an energy plan, you need to ask yourself the following questions. The answer to these questions will help you select the best possible plan for your business.
Is Your Location Regulated Or Not?
The location of your business can be the deciding factor when choosing energy plans. Specific areas in Australia are regulated while others are not. Therefore, if you are in Victoria, New South Wales, South-East Queensland, or South Australia, you will enjoy no regulation of energy suppliers, and it means more choice.
Suppose your business is located in areas in Queensland outside South-East Queensland, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, or Tasmania. In that case, you are part of the regulated area, and there is hardly any choice when it comes to energy retailers.
What Is My Peak Usage Time?
Depending on your peak usage, you can pick a tariff plan that is the most economical. For example, the usual peak hours are between 2 pm to 8 pm on weekdays.
If your business runs during those times, you will have to pay higher tariffs as peak-hour electricity costs the most. If your usage is significant during the off-peak hours, you will pay less as the rates are relatively low during these hours.
Similarly, weekends and holiday tariffs are also low. The best energy plan will allow you to pick your tariffs based on usage rather than impose a single tariff across the entire time.
Do I Have A Smart Metre Or An Interval Metre?
As the name suggests, smart metres allow factoring in time-of-use pricing and sending the usage data to the provider daily. They record the consumption at 30-minute intervals and report it to the retailer at the end of the day.
In contrast, an interval metre will allow for a time-of-use metre reading at 30-minute intervals, but the data will have to be downloaded as it is not relayed back to the provider.
Can I Modify My Usage to Save On Energy Costs?
Now that you know the energy rates are low during off-peak hours, weekends, and holidays, you should ask yourself if you could change your business operations to use more electricity during these hours instead of the peak time.
This means using computers, printers, and other electric appliances before and after the peak hour and using only the bare essentials between 2 pm to 8 pm. Also, if you can move high electricity usage tasks to the weekend, you can save significantly on your energy bill.
The best energy plan helps you maximise your profits by reducing your utility bills. Energy costs are unavoidable but can be manipulated to make sure that they don’t lower your profits. Small businesses are usually in the nascent stage of business and need all the help they can get to save costs.
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