Issue #41 - Finally! Support for businesses 🙌
Why can’t business energy be capped like domestic? | How to manage staff | Business owner FAQs | 5 Businesses, 1 question | Tunes | Podcasts | More
🦾 G O
Why can’t business energy be capped like domestic? 💡
Welcome to Issue #41 of The Backbone - the fortnightly newsletter from Bionic.
The government has finally announced a package of support to help business owners with soaring energy bills. Details of how the Energy Price Guarantee will work for businesses are still pretty thin on the ground, but you can find out all you need to know about it at this Bionic blog.
The latest news is that this much-needed help could be delayed until November. If this happens, support will be backdated to October 1.
To give you an idea of how badly businesses need this support, check out the tables below. The figures show how much average business energy bills increased in the months from July to September.
Average annual business gas bill*
Average annual business electricity bill*
You can find out more about how these numbers were crunched in our blog on the cost of living crisis.
But, given that there’s been a domestic price cap in place for three years, why can’t business rates simply be capped in the same way?
It’s largely down to the difference in usage between businesses and the complexity of commercial energy contracts.
🏠 No matter what size household you’re dealing with, they’ll more or less be running similar appliances in similar ways. This means imposing a flat rate for everyone is relatively straightforward.
🏭 But the difference in how and when businesses use energy can be huge. Although a fish and chip shop and a car manufacturing plant both need electricity to function, the way in which they use this power is completely different.
This is why there are no ‘off-the-shelf’ options for businesses and contracts need to be tailored to meet the needs of each individual business.
And this complexity makes it more difficult to impose one blanket rate across all businesses.
Then there’s the fact that business energy contracts are built differently from domestic ones.
While households can compare a range of tariffs with pre-determined rates, suppliers base the rates they charge commercial customers on business size, location, industry, energy usage and several other factors related to each individual business.
The result of this is that businesses need to compare hundreds of tariffs from each provider, versus a handful for households.
It’s all very complicated - something the government may have underestimated - but the support comes as welcome news to all business owners as it will at least offer some bill stability throughout winter.
What are your thoughts on the government’s support packages? Let us know 👇
📨 S U B S C R I B E
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🗞 R E A D
How to manage your staff as a business owner
How you manage your staff can make or break your small business. Ruling with an iron fist could lead to a high turnover of staff and all the issues that can bring. Be too much of a soft touch and you could find yourself doing the work you’re employing others to do. Here’s how to create a staff management plan to help make sure you get the balance right.
Business owner FAQs
When starting a business, there are a million and one things you need to consider. To help out with some of the most frequently asked questions about small businesses, we looked at the most popular Google searches and put together the answers.
🗣 S H O U T O U T
#BionicBusinessStory - 5 businesses, 1 question 🤔
We love hearing all about how small business owners got to where they are. The stories of how they’ve built their business, the things that keep them awake at night, their biggest achievements, and how they cope when life feels like it’s going at 60 miles an hour. We asked five business owners one simple question, and here’s how they answered…
Bionic: How did you start your business?
🍽 “Jason and Nick have been good friends since they were 13 years old. Nick trained to be a chef when he left school, so he’s got over 35 years of catering experience. He and Jason have always wanted to work for themselves but the timing has never been right. They’d been working at a catering van at Silverstone back in 2017 and afterwards started to discuss working for themselves rather than for someone else. That's how J’Nik’s started.” Lorraine Brown - J’Nik’s Catering
🍫 “My parents had run a few businesses when I was younger, so I always thought it was the normal thing to do, be your own boss, run your own business. Goupie actually happened almost by accident, we’d taken some samples to a few local farm shops on a whim, and they’d decided to order some. We kind of had to scramble a bit then to design packaging and make it look like a product to sell, the business grew quite naturally after that.” Grace Simpson - Goupie
🍩 “We started in 2015, it was just me and my business partner Megan Scadden, we were basically flat broke. I was an apprentice, and we were just kind of chasing our tails, as you do when you’re 20/21 years old. I borrowed £10 from my grandparents, then me and Megan made some doughnuts one day. They were dead simple ones, when I look back they’re shocking compared to what we produce now.” Wade Smith - Doughnotts
🦊 “I was actually in Nice on a family trip back in 2016 when I played my first escape room, I loved it. Before going to Nice, my original plan was to get into the property business, but I kept getting beat at auctions. I had a small deposit saved up so after we’d played the escape room, I contacted the owner to say how much we enjoyed it and to ask more about escape rooms in general” Sheyi Thomas - Fox in a Box Escape Rooms
🍳 “My dad and I started this business in 2003, just after I left university. We’re both very creative and hands-on, so we designed some moulds one day and then started to make the chocolates ourselves. We didn’t have a plan, but we just took our moulds to a few different shows and the feedback was great. Within six months we had listings in Harrods and John Lewis! What we were producing was so different from other chocolatiers” Flo Broughton - Choc on Choc
📩 J O I N
Get involved with our business community 🔊
Share your thoughts and tips to give other busy business owners a helping hand. Or ask a question to see if anyone can help you out.
Get your business costs sorted 💷
Bionic - the business price comparison experts - compare a range of business essentials to help you save time, money, and hassle.
Our tech-enabled team will answer all your questions in simple terms, and help you find the best deal on business energy, insurance, phone, broadband, or finance. No jargon. No-fuss. #BeABionicBusiness 🦾
Bionic helped Harriet find a better deal when her contract was up for renewal 👇
Check out more ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Trustpilot reviews
🎧 L I S T E N
Album
In a slight deviation from the usual playlist recommendation, we’ve gone with an album instead this week. As the nights are now really drawing in and there’s a chill in the air, we’ve found that The Hour of the Bewilderbeast is back on rotation. Released in September 1999 (!), Badly Drawn Boy’s debut album is an hour and three minutes of autumnal cosiness.
Podcast
We all have a certain part of history that piques our interest. But (Horrible Histories aside) it can be tough to get a history fix that’s as entertaining as it is informative. You’re Dead To Me is a comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Greg Jenner brings together the best names in comedy and history to learn and laugh about the past. It’s not full of belly laughs, but it’s definitely interesting and enjoyable.
👩🤝👩🏾 S H A R E
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🏡 H O U S E K E E P I N G
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🚫 S T O P
Thanks for making it to the end of another Bionic bulletin 🤝🏻
Did you spot all the New Order references in the last issue? Here they are…
Please leave a comment and let us know if there’s anything else we should be featuring.
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*Note: Bill size may vary according to your meter type and business location. Current market volatility may also mean that the prices you’re quoted are different from the averages shown. Figures shown are the average unit rates and standing charges quoted by Bionic per business size from July 25, 2022, to August 1, 2022, and from September 1 to September 9, 2022