Self Employed

BISKIT_2

I AM AN EXISTING BRITISH GAS CUSTOMER AND I HAVE RECENTLY BECOME SELF EMPLOYED.I HAVE A BUSINESS NAME AND HAVE MY HOME ADDRESS AS MY BUSINESS ADDRESS.I DO NOT ACTUALLY WORK FROM HOME AS SUCH ONLY WHEN I AM USING MY COMPUTER ABOUT AN HOUR EVERY NIGHT.A BRITISH GAS SALESMAN HAS BEEN RINGING ME CONSTANTLY ABOUT ME HAVING TO PAY BUSINESS RATES.DO I HAVE TO?IS IT WORTH DOING?AND ULTIMATELY,WILL I SAVE MONEY?

LittleVoice

Business rates - presumably you mean the charges they make for power, not business rates which are paid to the local authority.

If you pay for power as a business user, don't you pay 17.5% VAT on fuel? (I haven't checked this.) If that is the case, unless you are also registered for VAT, you would surely end up paying more!



Have now checked - the two rates of VAT are correct, 5% for residential, 17.5% for business users. How much power does your computer use? !!!

tripled

You should only go on a business tariff if the power used is predominatly business use. I can't remember the split, it is either at least 40% or 60% business usage before you have to go on a business tariff.