Ipswich: Haven Power lands Manchester Airports Group contract

Ipswich-based Haven Power's deal with Manchester Airports Group (MAG) means it will be supplying 100% renewable energy to Manchester, East Midlands, Humberside and Bournemouth airports. It makes MAG one of the largest customers for Haven, which supplies ...

Haven Power uses public cloud for disaster recovery

Energy firm Haven Power has recently started using Amazon Web Services (AWS) for its disaster recovery (DR) requirements. The company, founded in 2006, grew quickly without implementing a DR solution, but decided it needed to implement one last year.

Are you wasting 30% of your energy budget?

How much of your energy is being wasted? Typically 30%!

Whether it's inefficient lighting, that could be replaced by LEDs or compact fluorescents, or heating that is running 24 hours per day, in an office that runs 9 to 5, or maybe it's the computers that a left running at the time - because it's just easier and saves a few minutes in the morning. There are many ways that your business culd be wasting money, and typically this adds up to 30% of the total cost.

We offer a range of products and services which could save your business money, typically with a 12 to 18 month payback period, and some of which may be available with 0% finance.

Check, Switch, Insulate - it's for businesses too

The governments latest advice to consumers applies to businesses to:

Check - Are all your supplies under contract? Deemed rates are 50 to 75% higher than contract, but your supplier won't tell you about it. Whilst you're checking, are you on the right tariff? A 3 rate supply, but you operate Monday-Friday 9 to 5? That's costing you 10% or more.

Switch - Commercial users have a greater range of suppliers and competition is fiercer, so are you shopping around and getting the best deal? Or just sticking with the big suppliers? You could be missing out on great deals.

Have you sent in your termination notice? Suppliers require anything from 30 to 120 days notice, to check now. Failure will see your contract rolled over for up to 2 years, at a rate that suits your supplier.

Insulate - Savings vary from business to business, from site to site, but there are energy saving products to suit all types and savings for 10 to 20% of total usage are not unusual. Have you checked out the options recently?

Why don't people change supplier?

Because it's just not worth it.  People tend to look at changing supplier just after their prices have risen - after all that got to be the best time to look, right?  No, because all suppliers raise/lower their prices at different time.  So you're likely to switch to a supplier who hasn't raised the prices yet - so you expect to save £100's.  But unless you chose a fixed rate tariff (more expensive, and not worth the premium in many cases), the prices are likely to rise soon after you join - erasing all or some of the savings you've made.

So when should you look at pricing?  Once all the suppliers have raised thier prices - but that can take weeks, and do you have time to check that all suppliers have raised thier prices?

The simplest strategy is to check your prices on a regular basis, for example every 3 months.

SSE pulls out of UK nuclear consortium

The Scotland-based utility, which operates around 2,500 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy assets, said it wanted to focus on green energy and gas-fired power plants -- technologies with which it has more experience. "We have concluded that, for ...