Give yourself a Christmas present

How about a free healthcheck on your business expenses from the UK’s leading cost
and purchase management network?

Many companies are now turning to outsourced providers of cost and purchase management. Chris Allison,
Managing Director of Auditel, the leading exponent in this field, explains: “Effective cost and purchase
management is intelligent and ethical and leads to sustainable growth. It should not be confused with short-term
cost cutting exercises that treat problems in isolation and put clients, staff and society at risk.”

Read the full article here…..

Brent Crude Oil Prices Latest

Pressure is mounting on energy suppliers to cut retail gas prices following a steep decline in wholesale prices this year amid weakened demand.

Gas for immediate delivery dropped below 33p per therm on Wednesday, less than half its peak of 74p last September, having declined rapidly this month as the weather turned warmer.

Read the full FT article here…..

Britain is threatened by an “energy crunch” with disastrous social and economic consequences because of the impact of the financial crisis on the industry’s investment plans, a committee of MPs has warned.

The Commons’ business and enterprise committee said just as the government had intervened to support the banks, it needed to step in to ensure energy companies invested in new power stations and gas storage facilities.

In a report published this morning, the MPs write: “Generating capacity equivalent to nearly a third of current electricity demand will be made redundant by 2020. It will need to be replaced. We believe that in the current economic climate there is a high risk that the energy companies will not be able to raise the finance necessary to build this.”

Read the full FT article here…..

With the financial market in turmoil and businesses finding it difficult to obtain funding, the media focus has tended to ignore the energy sector in recent weeks. However, there have been some interesting and dramatic events taking place, all of which will have a major impact on small businesses.

The difficult trading conditions in the retail markets over the past 18 months have caused two suppliers to become insolvent, E4B and Bizz Energy. Bizz was the largest independent supplier to have been around for a long time, weathering the last wholesale price increase three years ago and expanding its business in the process. So their demise is a significant event and demonstrates the effect of the size and speed of these recent energy price rises. Those supply companies without their own generating resource have been particularly hard hit. They have had to try and hedge their requirements for 2, 3 or even 4 year fixed price contracts with their customers in an ever rising market. We may be reluctant to shed many tears for them but in the longer term it means less competition, and that is bad news for SMEs.

More bad news is the way in which complaints about energy suppliers are now handled and how redress might be obtained. Energywatch ceased to exist at the end of September……….. 

Click here to download the full press release…..