Climate Change Levy: What’s the Score?

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[The following is a guest post about ways to reduce business energy and more specifically to lower the government taxes associated with excess energy consumption.]

In April 2001, a new environmental energy tax was introduced, known as Climate Change Levy (CCL). In an effort to encourage businesses to be more wary of their energy consumption, the CCL is an initiative that aims to make businesses of all sizes more energy-efficient, while common sense and energy efficient products could help them to do so.

CCL is a tax that is placed on energy delivered to non-domestic users to help reduce carbon emissions, minimize environmental impact and reduce energy costs. In short, with the help of suppliers such as British Gas business energy, business owners will be hit less by the CCL if they are more considerate towards their environment and reduce the costs incurred by the energy consumption.

Climate Change Levy

The levy forms part of the UK’s Climate Change Program and is charged on ‘taxable commodities’, such as gas, electricity and LPG. Whether these commodities are supplied for heating, lighting or general power for businesses is irrelevant – the CCL applies to all of it, if you’re in the industrial, commercial, agricultural or public sectors.

Luckily, although it’s charged on petrol, it’s not charged on road fuel due to the existence of excise duty already.

As a business owner, you will see the CCL as a separate line on your energy bills. As of the 1st April 2012, the rates for gas and electricity rose to 0.177p per kWh for gas and 0.509p per kWh for electricity.

While being more energy-efficient will reduce the CCL you will incur (due to less energy consumption), if you need more information about how to minimize the CCL you’re charged, you can fill in an Energy Savers Report which will advise you on what you can improve within your business to make your energy bill healthier.

Even the smallest of changes can help reduce your consumption and the impact on the environment. From changing light bulbs to energy-saving alternatives, to switching electrical equipment off when not in use, can save you huge amounts over the year – particularly if you get your staff members on board.

Look into energy-saving options today and implement an incentive plan to encourage your employees to join in too. You’ll notice the difference in your energy costs almost immediately.

Business Energy Management: Become Efficient And Save Money Fast!

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[The following is a guest post brought to you by uSwitch For Business]

Businesses are facing a great deal of pressure in these days of recession. As well as simply trying to stay afloat they need to consider their environmental impact. The good news for businesses is that in many cases financial and environmental savings can go hand in hand and there are resources available such as uswitchforbusiness to help companies do a better job of business energy management.

Business Energy Management: A Way To Improve Your Bottom Line

Business energy consumption can be one of the major costs faced and can be a difficult cost to tackle. When staff are employed in an office or building to run a business, electricity and gas are needed to keep the work environment lit and heated as well as keeping equipment such as computers and machinery working – another benefit of using “work from home” days as a method of showing employee appreciation.

One way of saving money is to compare business electricity and gas costs. Comparison websites will allow businesses to compare the costs of business electricity and gas amongst all the major UK suppliers. Inputting details into these companies will give your business access to the many deals and offers available to business users from these suppliers to find ways of saving money.

Depending on the amount of energy your business consumes, shopping around for a cheaper supplier could save your business hundreds or thousands of pounds a year.

As well as finding a better energy deal online, there are many other ways of saving energy costs and improving the environmental profile of your company. You may need to get your employees on board to implement some of the changes necessary to save money such as encouraging them to switch off office equipment when not in use rather than leaving it on standby.

Business Energy Management: Simple Things Make A Huge Difference

Your business could save up to £35 on each computer and monitor each year by ensuring that it is properly switched off when not in use overnight or on weekends and bank holidays.

Using energy saving light bulbs and encouraging staff to switch off lights when they leave the room could cut your business’s lighting bill by up to 15 per cent and up to £400 could be saved annually by making sure taps are fully turned off and any dripping taps are fixed as soon as possible.

Turning the heating thermostat down by one degree could reduce your business’s heating bill by as much as eight per cent. It is likely that your staff will not even notice the slight drop in temperature.

Getting Grants To Help You Save

As well as encouraging staff to have some responsibility for cutting energy costs it may be worth your business investing in energy efficient equipment. Grants that are available from the Carbon Trust to help towards the cost and the overall savings on energy bills are likely to make the initial investment worthwhile.

There is plenty of information and advice available for businesses from the Energy Saving Trust on ways to reduce energy costs and become more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. The Trust can help to evaluate your energy consumption and offer advice on ways of making savings.

photo by jannoon028