1 Novemeber 2013 Business November 2013 Business Helping our customers. We re on it. In this month s newsletter: Tony Cocker calls for Competition Commission inquiry New Energy Toolkit for businesses RO charge set to rise Improving gas transportation costs 2 year Connect product for SMEs Making life easier for SMEs Tony Cocker calls for inquiry to rebuild trust in energy market Our Chief Executive, Dr Tony Cocker has called for a Competition Commission review of the energy market to help bring an end to the myths about the market. Tony made the suggestion whilst talking to MPs on the Climate Change and Energy Select Committee, which has asked leaders of the major energy companies to explain rising energy prices. He said: We believe we operate in a competitive market but we know there s concern about competition and this is why I ve called for a Competition Commission inquiry to have a thorough review of the market. He also said he understood customers concerns about energy bills and promised we would hold prices for as long as possible and as low as possible. Tony told the Committee that energy companies needed to regain the trust of their customers and that a Competition Commission inquiry would help with this. He also explained the steps we ve taken over the last 18 months to make things better and fairer for you. Tony has written to the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and Ofgem to suggest the inquiry.
2 Novemeber 2013 Business New Energy Toolkits for Corporates and SMEs You may have noticed we ve been back on TV lately, encouraging our residential customers to compare their energy use with other homes in their area, with our new online Saving Energy Toolkit. The idea of the toolkit is to help customers use no more energy than they need at home. Now you can help your customers do the same in their business. We launched our Energy Toolkit for SMEs in October, giving small businesses online advice, products and tools to help them control their energy use. For example, they ll get energy efficiency advice tailored to their sector, including case studies of SMEs that have saved energy and seen a real impact on their bottom line, together with a new improved Business Energy Monitor. In the next few weeks, we ll also be launching a new Energy Toolkit for your Corporate customers. It will be available to all customers with half-hourly metered electricity and AMR metered gas or non half-hourly sites. It replaces and improves our current data service and will help your Corporate customers monitor, analyse and understand their energy use. They ll also be able to compare how their different sites use energy and their energy use over time. How you ll benefit The good news is, if your customers sign up to the Energy Toolkit, you ll benefit too. You ll get one log in so you can see all your customers in one place. You ll also get: the same level of access they do, at no extra cost to you the ability to manage the system on their behalf, to help them set targets, get alerts and benefit from a comprehensive reporting package. To find out more, please visit our Energy Toolkit page on the website or get in touch with your Account Manager.
3 Novemeber 2013 Business News affecting your corporate clients RO charge to set to rise by 22% next year The Renewables Obligation (RO) was introduced in 2002 to help support renewable electricity generation. It places an obligation on licensed suppliers like us to source part of our electricity from renewable generators. The amount or level we have to source is set by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) each year. On 30 September, DECC announced the new RO level for England, Wales and Scotland for the period April 2014 to March 2015. From April 2014, we ll have to source 0.244 Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) per MWh instead of the current 0.206 ROCs per MWh. We use ROCs to show we re meeting our obligation. Put another way, the new level means we ll be sourcing 24.4% of our electricity from renewable generators, instead of 20.6%. Based on this new RO level, the charge is set to go up from 8.66 per MWh to 10.58 per MWh, a rise of 22%. If your customer is on a fixed price contract, we ve already included an estimate of the new RO charge so the price they pay won t change. Renewables Obligation You can find out more about the Renewables Obligation at: eonenergy.com/othercharges
4 Novemeber 2013 Business Gas transport costs how we re making things clearer As you know, a part of every gas bill goes towards the cost of transporting gas. To make things as fair and transparent as possible, we ve improved the way our Corporate customers pay for this. We re now passing through the cost for all customers using more than 25GWh a year. That means your customers will pay the actual published rate for this charge, rather than paying an estimated cost upfront. If you have a customer who would still like the estimated cost included upfront, or they use less than 25GWh and would like the cost passed through, please talk to your Account Manager. News affecting your SME clients 2 year Connect product In September, we launched a new 2 year Connect product for both new and existing customers, which replaced all of our Access and Access Plus products, including Maximum Demand (MD). The change means that all our products are now aligned under Connect including: Connect electricity and gas 1, 2 and 3 year products for new and existing customers (Profile class 01-04) MD Connect electricity 1 and 2 year products for new and existing customers (Profile class 05-08) Bespoke Gas 1 year products
5 Novemeber 2013 Business We re making life even easier for our SME customers Following the success of our call for an industry wide end to automatic rollover contracts, we ve announced a package of measures to make things even easier for our SME customers. From early 2014, we re ending the automatic rollover of contracts for new and existing customers and introducing new products, without an automatic rollover option. We ve introduced a flat rate electricity and gas standing charge to make pricing and price comparison easier. These changes mean we re once again doing more than our competitors to be genuinely helpful to our customers and are committed to treating them fairly. These changes mean we re once again doing more than our competitors to be genuinely helpful to our customers and are committed to treating them fairly. You ll hear more about these changes over the coming months but if you ve got any questions please talk to your SME Relationship Manager. To find out more visit: www.eonenergy.com/for-your-business/small-to-medium-... or talk to your SME Relationship Manager Helping our customers. We re on it. E.ON UK plc Westwood Way Westwood Business Park Coventry CV4 8LG Registered in England and Wales No 2366970 eonenergy.com/business