Advice on cutting business energy bills at SBEN breakfast event

Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire businesses looking to reduce their energy bills are invited to a free breakfast event at Keele University next month.

The Staffordshire Business Environment Network is launching its Low Carbon Business Evolution Programme (LCBEP) on Tuesday September 13 along with project partners Keele University and Staffordshire University.

LCBEP is a £1.1million project providing free specialist low carbon advice, 60 per cent funded internships and low carbon enterprise grants of between £2,000 and £10,000 for businesses eligible for support

This first event, being held at Keele University’s Sustainability Hub, will focus on energy efficiency, as well as introducing businesses to the opportunities available through the LCBEP scheme.  The event will be opened by Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership board member Jonathan Dale, who leads on business growth and innovation.

Many businesses may be wondering why, in the face of falling wholesale energy costs, their bills have failed to follow suit. But according to energy experts Andrew Fletcher and David Lawton, the main speakers at the event, the proportion of their bills represented by actual consumption of energy can be as little as 50 per cent, even less in some cases. The experts will be looking at ways to reduce these additional charges, covering issues including:

• The optimum strategies for procuring energy
• What the various consumption and non-consumption charges within energy bills actually mean
• How consumption and non-consumption related charges can be managed and reduced
• How to eliminate estimated bills through implementing a simple energy management and monitoring system
• The potential for reducing energy consumption and costs through identifying and implementing energy efficiency measures
• The benefits of implementing an IS050001 Energy Management System (EnMS)

The event takes place at Keele University Sustainability Hub, Home Farm, Keele University, Keele, from 8am to 10.15am on September 13, and includes a light breakfast. Admission is free, but places must be booked in advance via the Staffordshire Business Environment Network website at: www.sben.co.uk/Events