Gas and electricity bills can be one of the largest expenses for a small business and energy spend is likely to be a greater concern for SMEs during recent months. With around 80% of UK SMEs seeing a revenue impact from the COVID-19 crisis, saving money on business energy has never been more important.
From utilising smart new technology, to choosing the best gas and electricity tariffs for your business, here we discuss 5 ways how Valda SmartChoice can help your business cut energy costs and save money.
As mandated by the Government, by June 2021, all homes and small businesses across Great Britain will have been offered a smart meter. The smart meter rollout is well underway, as of June 2020, there were 21.5 million smart and advanced meters in homes and small businesses in Great Britain.
Smart meters accurately track your energy usage and send the readings directly to your energy supplier, meaning your supplier receives consistent and correct readings with no extra effort on your behalf. This means that you will only be billed for the energy you use, ensuring your bills are accurate with no more estimates or unexpected costs.
Another great benefit is that smart meters give businesses greater insight on their energy usage, including the ability to track usage patterns. This can help companies to significantly reduce their energy costs by paying attention to their usage and switching to more energy efficient practices accordingly. For example, if there is higher than expected energy usage out of your business hours, it could help you identify if equipment is left on overnight.
You could then introduce practices to correct this, such as ensuring employees switch equipment off at nights and weekends. This action alone can reduce energy consumption by up to 75% per year. This means that whether your goals are to reduce energy consumption, become greener, or save money, a smart meter can help.
Our Valda SmartChoice tariff utilises the latest smart metering technology so that you can take advantage of these benefits. And if you don’t already have a smart-enabled meter, we will install one for you at no extra cost.
Although smart meters have many features that can help your business reduce its energy consumption and save money, reaping the benefits could be difficult in practice. For example, research from the Carbon Trust has shown that 51% of SMEs want to do more regarding energy efficiency, but lack of time and money is cited as the number one barrier.
One way to make measuring energy usage easier is through using energy usage apps, which will not only assist you in reducing energy consumption to save money, but will also save time. Our Valda SmartChoice tariff is accompanied by our Valda Energy app, which will help your business save both time and money.
As discussed, smart meters give your business the data it needs to make informed decisions to cut your business’ energy consumption and therefore save money. However, using an energy usage app makes this process much simpler. Our Valda Energy app links up to your smart meter, allowing you to visualise your usage on a simple-to-read graph, viewable by each meter point, by month, or by day. This level of accuracy can assist you in trying to pinpoint energy usage, spikes, and trends, thus helping you with your targeted energy saving methods and goals.
Not only this, but the data visualised in our app is a great tool to use to involve employees. Your business’ energy-saving goals cannot be achieved alone, where you will need the help of your team, whether that is through small every-day actions like turning the lights off in empty rooms, or something larger.
Setting a measurable goal is important to motivate and incentivise your team, as then it is clear what your business is aiming for, the progress towards the goal, and of course to celebrate when it has been achieved. The energy usage app has all this information easily and readily available, which could lead to more successful energy-saving goals, and ultimately more savings.
Our Valda Energy app is designed around these great smart meter benefits. So, with our SmartChoice tariff, reducing energy consumption and saving money becomes even simpler.
Another great benefit of our Valda Energy app is it gives you greater control over your business’ energy payments, which can help you more effectively manage your budget, and save money.
With Valda SmartChoice, the payments are completely flexible, where you choose when and how often you want to top up your balance. There are also a range of payment options to choose from, including: credit card, debit card, Direct Debit, standing order or Bacs.
With the app, you can easily set up recurring payments with your choice of payment method, and sync payment dates with your accounts. And with 24/7 access to your balance, you can easily see when your bill is due to ensure the appropriate funds are available. This means you can keep on-track with your energy payments and avoid any unexpected surprises.
However, you may not want to keep a constant watch on your account. That’s why with our app, you can even set up tailored notifications. For example, if your balance dips below a certain amount, you can receive an alert reminding you to top up your account.
With our flexible payments, our Valda SmartChoice tariff can help you strike the right balance between control and ease, keeping you in control of your energy management and budget, without the added hassle.
Our Valda Energy app completely streamlines energy management, saving time for you and your business – and as we know in business, “time is money”.
With our app, everything you need to manage your business’ energy is available in one place. Everything can be done within a few clicks, or for even more convenience, things like payments can be completely automated.
And with 24/7 app access, you will no longer be restricted to juggling your business needs and your energy needs within opening hours. Instead, you can manage your energy account at a time that best suits you and your business. This can be particularly useful if you travel for work or have multiple business sites, as you can access your account whenever and wherever you are, even worldwide.
With technology-focused digital solutions, our Valda Energy app makes managing business energy simple, so you can save time to focus on your business.
As discussed, cutting the amount of energy you use through using technology like smart meters and energy usage apps is one of the most effective ways to cut your business energy bills. However, one of the quickest and simplest ways to reduce your business energy bills can be switching to a cheaper tariff.
With Valda SmartChoice, you can top up your business energy how you want, when you want. This means that you never need to worry about paying your business’ energy bills, with flexible payment options to suit every business.
This tariff also works hand-in-hand with smart metering technology and our Valda Energy App, making it simple to monitor your energy (and budget). This means that with Valda SmartChoice, you are always in complete control of your energy usage and spend, or you can choose to let us manage this for you.
We believe this is the new way to pay – and through utilising new smart metering technology, streamlining digital processes with our app, and introducing our new flexible payment tariff, we are able to keep our costs lower. This means that we can pass these savings on to our customers, keeping our prices low and competitive for businesses of all credit scores.
Our Valda SmartChoice tariff is a unique market leading product, enabling customers of all credit scores to have access to competitive prices, outstanding customer service, the latest smart meter technology and options to pay how you want, when you want.
Find out how much your business could save with our Valda SmartChoice tariff by getting a quote here.
© 2024 Valda Energy - All rights reserved.
