Energy prices continue to rise in Aug 2022, and is expected to worsen in the winter of 2022; rising temperature, the war in Ukraine, global inflation, all contributes to a higher energy price, and especially impactful to the operating cost for small businesses.
From transportation of their daily deliveries, to lights, heating or keeping the AC on, are all impacted by the rising energy price.
Many businesses finds it difficult when there is no cap on their energy bill, as they get billed at the end of the month or end of quarter of a year, it is hard for them to estimate and forecast their operating cost, which makes it difficult if the cost is drastically higher, which can not be absorb into their pricing. As there is no accurate guide for them to set/change their pricing to offset some of the cost to their customers.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61743920
“Landlady gives up pub as quarterly energy bills near £30,000
The lack of a cap for firms means “they can’t predict from one month to the next what that bill is going to look like”, said Hannah Essex, co-executive director of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).”
This example shows the importance to be able to forecast, to estimate with accuracy of the bill they will be hit with, which then will allow them to pre-plan, and adjust their own prices to keep their business afloat.
With good forecasting and planning, utilities might even be able to aid their customer’s planning and balance out the grid load better, with the below example of Octopus Energy.
“Octopus Energy paid out more than £1 million to its customers for cutting down on their energy usage on Tuesday evening and helping reduce the strain on the power grid.
The energy supplier said that more than 400,000 customers took part in the challenge between 4.30 and 6pm.”
Climate Tech Blog 