Business gas and electricity saving

There are two easy ways for a business to save money on gas and electricity bills. Use less and pay less.

Use less gas and electricity
There is so much in the news every day about global warming and the fact that we should be using less energy in our homes, but the same also applies for business energy users.

Not only are you saving the environment, but also money, meaning that you can be far more competitive in your market place and drive higher profits. With soaring energy costs in the last few years, this is now far more important than ever before!

There are some simple ways of reducing your business energy consumption including:

• Shut down computers when not in use
• Use energy saving light bulbs and turn off lights when not needed
  consider turning off all lights in areas that are not in use or use dimmers
• Install occupancy detectors, sensors that turn light on automatically when somebody is in the room
  
• Be efficient with heating and air conditioning - changing the heat by as little as 1 degree can make a huge difference
• When replacing or purchasing new equipment, look out for energy efficient products
  

Pay less for your gas and electricity
The energy market is more competitive than ever now and with so much competition, the savings available can be substantial.

Don't just assume that the energy company that you are currently with is offering you the best price. Every time your contract comes up for renewal, shop around and you could be suprised by the possible savings.

Its a long drawn out process going to each of the energy suppliers and getting a price for your energy, but there are services out there that can help.

One of those is an online service at www.ukpower.co.uk/business. The entire process is done online, which means no salesman pressure, you can look in your own time and you can even switch online.

As this is an online channel and a number of suppliers are in their database, supplier are offering very competitive prices to try to win your business.

The site is free to use and you are under no obligation to take a deal through the site unless you find a better deal and decide to make an application.

Store cards - good or bad?

There has been loads of talk recently about store cards in the press. The concern is about the high interest rates charged and the amount of debt that people are building up.

Basically put, a store card is a credit card that only allows you to spend in certain shops. If you qualify for a store card, you should be able to get a credit card instead. Chances are, you will get better rates and they are more flexible.

Store cards are sold in store with the incentive of a discount off your first transaction. The amount of interest charged only makes this worthwhile if you are going to pay off the full balance straight away and not incur and interest payments.

If you are confident that you will be able to pay off the store card balance in full straight away, then why not take it out, get your initial discount, pay off the card and then close your account.

If you need the store card because you do not have the money available to pay for yur goods, then think about the alternatives.

The first thing to consider is whether you really need the goods you are purchasing. If you don't really need them, does paying interest on the credit (and therefore paying more for the goods in the long run) make sense?

If you do need the goods and don't have the funds available, consider other credit options. There are plenty of credit cards out there that are far more attractive than store cards such as cash back credit cards, 0% interest credit cards, rewards cards, etc.

In order to see what credit cards are available on the market, compare credit cards at www.switchwise.com.

Switching gas and electricity supplier - the facts!

Despite the rapid growth in the number of switching sites out there, people tend to think that switching your gas and/or electricity supplier is far more complicated than it really is.

I will now try to dispell some of the gas and electricity switching myths:

New wires and/or pipes need to be installed
Not true. Your gas and electricity comes to your house in exactly the same way. The only difference is that you pay a different company.

The gas and/or electricity will be a different quality
Not true. This is often hard for people to get their heads around, but no matter who supplies your energy, it is the same energy that comes to your house.

If I make the wrong choice I will be stuck
Not true. There isn't much to get wrong, the only thing that varies is the price and the customer service. If you are not happy with eitther of these, you are free to switch again at any time.

I am going to be charged for switching
Not true. It is free to switch energy suppliers. Yes, the switching sites do get paid commission, but this doesn't affect the price you pay. This is all part of their marketing spend and in just the same way that they pay money to advertise on television and in newspapers, they pay for customers from these switching sites.

For more information on switching your gas and electricity, visit www.switchwise.com/energy

Secured loans - where to start?

This is my first post, so let me introduce myself. I work at Ukpower.co.uk (gas and electricity price comparison site) and we have just launched a new site called switchwise.com which has been developed to help people make savings on the boring things in life such as household bills and personal finance products.

I needed a loan a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I would see just how good our site was first hand!

Taking out a loan should be easy! Our television programmes are packed with adverts for loan companies, but in my opinion, that just makes the job all that much harder! Who do you believe? With so many deals out there, how do you know you are getting the best loan for your needs?

I decided to ignore all of the loan adverts I had seen on TV. At the end of the day, they are just selling their own deals and aren't going to tell you if they think you can get a better deal elsewhere.

So I headed off to a few of the loan comparison sites that are out there. There are plenty around and a quick search soon brings up loads of them.

I put in the loan amount that I wanted and answered a few questions, being then given hundreds of secured loan deals. While it made the job easier, I was still not sure which one to go for.

Switchwise.com works in a slightly different way. You enter your loan requirements in a similar way, but then somebody contacts you about your loan. Okay, this doesn't suit everybody, but for me, it meant that I could chat through th loan details with a real person and feel confortable with the loan deal that I went for.

Give it a go, let me know how you get on!