Compare and Connect electricity for your business

Whether you are moving your small business to new premises, or just looking to save money on your electricity and gas plans, it’s a great idea to use a comparison service like Move-In Connect to make sure you find the best plan for your needs.

This guide explains the process we’ll guide you through when you use our comparison tools for your business.

Understanding your business energy needs

The type of business you own, as well as the size and location of your premises, will affect your energy needs. It’s important to understand how your business uses energy so that you don’t end up paying more for services you don’t need.

Business energy usage can be difficult to calculate, so it’s a good idea to undertake an energy audit. This can be done by your energy provider or a specialized consultant.

The results of your audit will give you invaluable insights into your energy usage, which will help you to compare electricity plans and find one that matches your needs.

The audit will show you the following aspects of your business’ energy habits:

• Times and days of high demand
• High energy usage appliances, equipment and activities
• Energy consumed from solar panels and/or energy supplied to the grid
• Energy efficiency
• Energy wastage and areas of potential savings

You should have an energy audit conducted every 6 to 12 months to keep up with the changing habits of your business and to make sure you are not paying too much for your energy bills.

Saving energy

The results of your business energy audit will show you if there are ways you can become more energy efficient to save money. 

We recommend introducing an energy-saving policy to your business, to ensure you are not using more electricity than you need to. Your policy might include practices such as powering down computers at the end of the day rather than leaving them in standby mode and having timers on heating/cooling and lighting systems to make sure these electricity suckers aren’t using energy when they are not needed.

You will need to implement these policies by training your staff to be more energy conscious and consider the overall impact of the energy they use.

If you find that most of your electricity bill is coming from peak hours, you should consider solar panels and batteries to offset this cost. With some batteries, you can buy and store electricity in off-peak periods to take advantage of the lower rates. This can lead to hundreds of dollars of savings each quarter.

Business energy providers

There are several energy providers in Australia that specialize in business energy. As well as competitive rates, these providers have the added advantage of in-depth knowledge of business energy needs, and in some cases, a dedicated account manager so you always have a specific person to contact about your energy needs.

Some of Australia’s leading business energy providers are:

• ERM Power
• Commander
• Next Business Energy
• QEnergy
• Blue NRG

In addition, most general electricity retailers offer options for small businesses. When you compare these business plans, you should look for incentives that could benefit your business. This might include tailored rates to suit your usage habits, discounts for bundling your electricity and gas connections, and rewards for being ‘energy-savvy’ and responsible. 

You can also find high solar feed-in tariffs for business plans that can make a big difference to your bill if you have solar panels installed.

Other incentives include rewards from partner companies that can be used to offset the cost of electricity in your business. Several retailers partner with Qantas to give you reward points when you sign up with them and when you pay your bill. If your business is a rewards club member, you can redeem these points to save money in other areas of your business, such as travel or accommodation.

Business energy plans compared

Some of our favorite business electricity plans are summarised below.

*based on the provider’s average daily use estimates for small business customers on the Citipower network (Melbourne).

The rates for small businesses are protected by the reference price in your state or territory. In Victoria, this is the Victorian Default Offer. In New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia, it is the Default Market Offer. All other states have a reference price or standing offer regulated by the state government.

The reference price is set by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) or state government to protect customers from unfairly high rates. It works in two ways. Firstly it is the maximum amount that retailers can charge customers for electricity. Secondly, it is the reference price that retailers must use to compare their discounted rates. Retailers must display their discounts as a percentage of the reference price to help customers compare plans from different retailers effectively.

Customer service

Customer service can be a deal-breaker when it comes to choosing your business electricity provider. To run your business smoothly, you need the peace of mind of knowing that you will be properly taken care of if and when issues arise with your electricity.

Although many retailers have comprehensive, 24-hour digital customer service options, it can be invaluable to find a provider that offers round-the-clock phone support as well. For business accounts, some providers offer a dedicated account manager, so you will always speak to the same person when you need support.

Switching your business energy plan

When it comes to comparing electricity plans for your business, let Move-In Connect do the hard work for you. We will recommend the best and cheapest plan from our panel of preferred suppliers, to save you hundreds of dollars on your bill.

Our 100% free service also includes connecting your business to your new plan. We will arrange the new electricity and gas connections, with no interruption to your service, and no stress!

Call our business moving experts today at 1300 786 045 or enter your details online to get started.