Return to inefficient bulbs would be a backwards step

At NGP, it always amazes us that anybody ever waits for regulation to change before they do something positive for themselves or their businesses.

If it’s in your power to do make a positive change today (such as calling NGP!) then why wait until you’re forced to do it?

This is especially the case in our the business energy sector, where the majority of the most meaningful recent legislation has been introduced with the aim of reducing carbon emissions, as part of the Government’s long-term international commitments on climate change.

The motives are sound, but why do people need to be told to make these improvements? Reducing energy spend is such a no-brainer: even if you are a climate change denier, the cost savings should still be very appealing. Why anyone waits to make savings is beyond us.

At NGP, we understand business pressures and we work tirelessly to help our clients save huge sums of money on their energy contracts. Sometimes this is through re-negotiating contracts, sometimes it’s by working with businesses to modify behaviour. Either way, it’s good for your business, it’s good for staff morale, it helps productivity and it improves your bottom line.

We achieve long-term, sustainable improvements for clients by showing them ways in which savings can be made – and once you’ve seen how easy is it to save unnecessary expenditure, most businesses are very unlikely to go back.

Which is why we were shocked this week by the suggestion that, once Brexit has taken place, the UK could scrap EU efficiency regulations, which affect the kinds of appliances we use. This also includes light bulbs, and the old-style incandescent light bulbs, which wasted 95% of the energy they used, were phased out in the UK in 2009.

Now a report has suggested that, no longer bound by EU regulations, the UK could go back to using less efficient appliances. It would increase the average domestic electricity bill by £90.

It seems like lunacy to us. This has nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with common sense: why go back to doing things badly, just because you’re not being made to do them well any more?

The easiest way of all to cut your business’ energy spend is to contact NGP and let one of our advisers explain how we can help.