As you may be aware, we work with thousands of businesses across the UK and we have been getting more and more enquiries about two main topics. Firstly, the increased cost of both energy, which has reached record levels over the past 6 months. Secondly, the impending PSTN & ISDN telecoms switch-off, in the near future, which equates to 2.4 million businesses in the UK.
- (1) Increased Energy Costs:
Unlike the domestic energy market (which is going up 54% from 1st April 2022) there is no price cap for commercial supplies, and businesses are seeing a much bigger increase than domestic users on both their electricity and gas costs (some suppliers are charging nearly £1 per kWh for electricity in extreme cases). Even if you’re currently in contracts, we would encourage all businesses to forward details of their existing arrangements, as our services our completely performance related and we typically save clients 34%, within the areas that we operate. We can also advise on any likely increases that you may incur in time and Net Zero strategies, should these be of interest.
- (2) Increased Telecoms Costs & PSTN & ISDN Switch-Off
Similarly, British Telecom (BT) are increasing their prices by 9.3% (as from 1st April 2022) and other telecoms suppliers (should you not be with BT), will typically follow suit. Openreach have also been accelerating the withdrawal of their PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) and ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) services/products. For example, Openreach have now listed a further 98 towns in the “Stop Sell” programme (covering 954,000 premises), where these exchanges will no longer sell copper based products and services. In total, the “stop sell” policy is now active across 181 fibre exchanges (covering nearly 2 million premises). Ultimately, everyone will be impacted by this in the next few years, but some businesses will be impacted sooner than others, depending on location. In order to determine your situation, please feel free to contact us or forward your latest invoices for review.
Obviously, if any changes were needed for your telecommunications, we would recommend that everything be future proofed. Should you already have switched to a VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) system, you may also be eligible for Government’s “Super Deductions” scheme that a number of our clients have been taking advantage of. Please note that we do not necessarily have to change your existing telecoms supplier to make savings, nor do you have to be out-of-contract (as we have access to consultancy rates through our large client base).
“Beaconplus have worked on my behalf at my previous company and I was so impressed that when I moved role and business, I engaged with them again to handle all of our utilities, telecoms etc. They are really great to work with and have saved me lots of time and headaches over the last few years.”
Julie Potts, Practice Manager, Frame Swift And Partners LLP
*** Next Step – Make Contact ***
It’s hard for any business not to be impacted by the above issues, and with no sign of this changing anytime soon (with inflation currently at 5.5% and the ongoing political/global events, as examples). To determine if we can help your business in anyway (even for some general advice), please contact me on 01565 755600. Alternatively, you would be welcome to forward any information via e-mail (mail@beaconplus.co.uk) to determine if we can help you in anyway. A number of client testimonials can be found on our website (http://www.beaconplus.co.uk/testimonials/).
