All powered up?!

As the cost of energy has become a major and likely to be long-lasting issue for rural businesses, the CLA Cymru event on the subject was timely and welcome for many members.

Held at Aberglasny on 19 April, attendees heard from CLA Energy Services about the importance of energy to running a successful business and keeping an eye on costs as a crucial issue. The market has never been more volatile than over the last few years – the impact of the pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine causing energy prices to rocket upwards. Prices are starting to normalise now, and, we heard, they are likely to remain fairly stable over the next few years.

‘Energy Services offer a variety of contract-types depending on client requirements ranging from fixed - to flexible-purchasing. They have a number of success stories including reducing energy costs by 20% at a holiday park, and a small arable farmer where they were able to reduce electricity cost-per-unit allowing them to invest the savings in other areas of their business.

Finally, we heard CLA Energy Services had identified that a client had an inaccurate meter. Once this issue was resolved they were able to secure a rebate of as much as £11,000.

The meeting heard that a “one size fits all” solution does not work for most businesses – so better to get in touch and arrange a bespoke offer. In discussion about energy-saving, we heard that the cheapest unit of electricity is the one you don’t use – and CLA Energy Services can help reduce demand as well as securing the best energy prices available on the market.