In 1990, the electricity sector began its move to the free market that we have become familiar with today. Before the privatisation of energy, buyers had no choice in providers, therefore, they had no choice regarding what they paid or the type of supply they received. However, today businesses have a plethora of providers to choose from, offering competitive prices and various supply options.
For large businesses, electricity is priced on a half-hourly basis. 24 half-hours during the day, 24 in the night. Based on the time of these half-hours, the price of electricity changes due to the demand at the time. This is done to provide a more accurate electricity reading. For businesses that consume 100 kW of electricity or greater, half-hourly meter reading is compulsory.
From November to February, prices of electricity often surge to match the high demand. Naturally, during the colder months of the year, more energy is being used to power homes and businesses due to cold weather. Combined with the red band period of 4 pm to 7 pm, where prices sky-rocket, it means that businesses are paying a lot for energy at this time. Energy prices are at their highest during the Triad. The Triad refers to the three half-hour settlement periods with highest system demand between November and February, separated by at least ten clear days. National Grid uses the Triad to determine TNUoS charges for customers with half-hour metering. TNUoS (transmission network use of system) are costs associated with the building, maintenance and use of the transmission system which are paid by users to the National Grid. To put this all into context, hypothetically, if you normally pay 13p per kWh during the day you could be looking at paying up to £40 per kWh during a Triad period.
The occurrence of red band and Triad periods have caused energy to become significantly cheaper during the night compared to during the day. The premise is simple, the higher the demand the higher the price. But how can businesses capitalise on this? The solution is obvious: simply move the main hours of your business’s energy consumption to the period when the price is low – an easy solution that has potentially big financial rewards.
On Bryt Energy’s Shift & Save tariff, you have the opportunity to receive monetary rewards for the consumption ‘shifted’. Your business will still have all the benefits and security of our fully fixed renewable energy supply but will have the added bonus of cashback through Shift & Save.
We understand that some consumption can’t be moved to an alternative time, which is where businesses can benefit from Bryt Energy’s battery storage technology. Battery storage systems work by charging when energy costs are at their lowest and discharging when energy costs are at their highest. So, the consumption that your business may have, which is difficult to move out of peak times, can rely on the battery system as opposed to the National Grid. Coupled with our generation solutions, solar panels could be used to charge the storage system during the day to be used during the red-band period, meaning no surges in energy costs for your business.
The same principle applies to generating energy as well. If you generate electricity through solar panels on the roof of your business’ building during a sunny period of the day, you could then use the power generated during the evening, when the price of energy is at its highest or alternatively when the sun isn’t shining.
Being able to adopt a greener nature as a business is hard, but Bryt Energy is in the business helping companies do just that. With many solutions to cater for many different business sizes and capacities, you’re in safe hands. To find out more about how Bryt Energy can save you money and give your business a 100% renewable energy source, contact us.
