In the latest in our series of questions to the boss, we focus on the important question of “If other industries are anything to go by my broker will be making money for himself and costing me plenty, how can I avoid the charges?”
Business Juice:
“Well, firstly an admission, we like you are in the business of making money. Brokers or TPIs (Third Party Intermediaries) as they are becoming commonly known, provide a service that is by and large positive for their recipient and reasonably priced too.
“That said, like any service or product a business purchases you shouldn’t accept paying over the odds, so whenever you are exploring an energy deal with your broker make sure that you ask them to disclose their commission to you. If you think it’s too much then you can simply walk away.
“As a guide if they were adding double digit percentages or whole pence per kWh to your bill, then you would be well minded to run away quickly. If your broker refuses to share this information then you can be pretty sure there is a reason for this that is not to your benefit. Again, you can walk away from a bad deal.
“One caveat though – don’t think that cutting out the broker altogether will mean you will see that ‘commission’ discounted from your bill by going direct to your supplier.
“The supplier wants to make as money as possible and will be looking to keep that cost of sale for themselves and not provide it as a discount to you!
Ultimately there is always a cost of sale associated with any energy contract, but happily using a broker is the easiest way to both quantify and reduce this cost.”
If you’d like a burning business energy question answered then please contact us on 0800 051 5770 or email hello@businessjuice.co.uk and you could be featured in the series.