Energy boost for Colne coffee firm

A Colne company has been given a real energy boost after learning that it has saved £75,000 on its gas and electricity bills.

Style Café, an importer of coffee machines, employed the services of local cost reductions firm Businesswise Solutions to look at its’ current bills, to positive result.

The business found it was paying well over the odds for its electricity consumption.

Owner Roger Heap said: “When we worked out how much electricity we were using and added up the cost over a 12 month period our bill came to an estimated £43,000, which was a massive amount.”

The company’s contract for gas was also up for renewal and Roger felt it was an opportune time to seek better rates.

A business associate recommended Roger to cost reductions firm Businesswise Solutions, and he called them to see how they could help Style Cafe make vital savings.

Businesswise, which works with Lancashire Business View on the LBV Energy Buying Hub, carried out a full analysis of Style Café’s existing gas and electricity bills and went out to strict competitive tender against leading suppliers, including Style Café’s existing electricity provider E-on and gas supplier, British Gas.

Frazer Durris, Businesswise director, explained: “Procuring electricity and gas for a large number of companies affords us better buying power than if our clients were to go to the suppliers direct themselves.

“We effectively purchase in bulk, which brings the costs down and as we do not take any cut from our clients they enjoy the full savings benefits that our energy experts make on their behalf.”

While paying over the odds for their electricity with E-on and gas with British Gas both suppliers actually came out on top following Businesswise’ strict tender process.

They managed to cut the business’s electricity bills by more than 50% over a three year period as well as saving them £5,335 savings on gas over a two-year contract.

Frazer added: “We monitor the markets 12 months ahead of their next contract renewals to ensure they are getting the best deals available to them next time around, and have already locked in Style Café’s 2014/15 gas prices in order keep the price down.”

Businesswise is also speaking to Style Café about its energy buying group to secure further potential big savings. The group already boosts local members such as Barnfield, Pendle Leisure and Euravia.

The current Lancashire business energy ‘basket’ stands at £27m in aggregated spend. The current scheme ends on August 2 when energy will be secured by bulk purchase and savings shared by those in the Lancashire buying group. If you want to save money on your business energy, in collaboration with Lancashire Business View, visit http://www.businesswisesolutions.co.uk/lbv-businesswise.php