Are You A Micro Business?

Your company is a micro business if it meets one of the following criteria:

Employs fewer than 10 employees (or their full time equivalent) and has an annual turnover or balance sheet no greater than €2 million, or

Consumes not more than 100,000 kWh of electricity per year, or

Consumes not more than 293,000 kWh of gas per year.

If your business uses this much energy it should equate to an annual spend of around £10,000 per fuel (excl. VAT and Climate Change Levy).

Contracts

Suppliers are legally required to put the end date and notice period on all bills for fixed-term contracts. Smaller businesses can also advise their supplier that they want to switch at the end of their deal. This can be done at any time before the notice period.

We can negotiate a new contract for you up to 12 months in advance.

For contracts starting on or after 30 April 2015, the maximum notice period for terminating a micro business contract has been reduced from 90 to 30 days.

Inform your supplier of your intention to end a contract before the notice period. It is possible that your supplier will automatically roll you over onto a new contract if you don’t.

For micro businesses, suppliers are only able to rollover a contract for a maximum period of one year. Contract terms vary.

Many suppliers no longer automatically renew micro business contracts for additional fixed-term periods.

But your prices for automatic renewals are generally higher than agreeing a new fixed deal. It also means you will not be able to switch for another year and will be paying much higher rates.

In the lifespan of your PLH contract we will monitor prices and advise the best time to switch. It will also stop the cold calls because you will always be shown to be ‘in contract’.

Deemed Contracts

If you take over a business premises without agreeing a contract with the current supplier, you will be in a ‘deemed contract’.

A deemed contract may also exist where an existing contract comes to an end, but the customer continues to consume energy.

If you are moving premises it is important that you give us as much time as possible to negotiate your new contract.

We will also need to ensure the meter fitted in the new premises suits your businesses requirements to avoid being overcharged.

The sooner the better for PLH securing the best possible prices.

Supplier’s Responsibility

If you are a business customer using energy on a deemed contract, the supplier cannot:

Prevent you from switching to another supplier, for any reason or at any time, (i.e. They cannot object to you transferring for reasons of debt or contract)

Require you to give notice before terminating the contract or charge you a termination fee

There is more information on the OFGEM website: www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/business-gas-and-electricity-guide/understand-energy-contracts-businesses

To learn more about energy for micro businesses in Essex, contact us