Gas for small business

fishlizzie

My brother rents a small retail unit in an arcade 6 days a week from 9am to 5pm.
The landlord pays for heating.
Electricity used is a CD player on most of the day, kettle 3 times a day to make tea and there are a number of low energy lights in the ceiling which are on all day.
British Gas is charging him £51 per month.

Would you say that is correct? I am with Southern Electric, have a 2 bed house and all the usual appliances and only pay £51 a month!

Nada666

Commercial contracts rarely have standing charges of less than £1 per day.

But what does his bill say his usage is? Does it not have a breakdown?

fishlizzie

That's around £30 a month then for standing charge!

is there any company that doesn't have that?

Nada666

Also you say gas in the title but mention lighting - surely he is not using gas lamps;). Does he have to pay two standing charges?

Say he is charged 20p - that's 105kWh after £1 a day standing charge. At face value a few lights should not use 3 kWh per day - but are you sure all are low energy? What about electric till?

fishlizzie

Oops! sorry, should have titled it Electricity not gas!

No electric till. Just use what I originally said.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

fishlizzie wrote: »

That's around £30 a month then for standing charge!

is there any company that doesn't have that?

He would have to shop around, and would be best placed contacting the companies himself. Don't use an energy broker - even if they disguise themselves as a price comparison service. Unlike the residential market, the commission they achieve is put directly onto the rate you pay, negotiating directly with the supplier will almost certainly get you a better rate.

That said, the standing charge is unlikely to come down much - supplying energy to business has much higher costs.