THE GOVERNMENT has backed a research project, which features an expert from the University of Reading, to help make energy bills cheaper for small businesses.
Dr Rory Jones, an associate professor at Reading’s School of the Built Environment, is part of a project led by Utilidex Ltd which has received £46,000 through the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) to revolutionise the way customers compare energy tariffs.
Energy company SSE, Utilidex Ltd, SSE Utility Solutions Limited, SSE Energy Supply Limited and Unit 9 Limited will work alongside Dr Jones to investigate time-of-use (TOU) tariffs, which encourage consumers to use electricity at off-peak times when it is cheaper.
Dr Jones said: “The cost-of-living crisis has hit all of us hard and that includes small businesses and companies.
“Energy prices have surged and making time-of-use electricity tariffs easier to understand will empower bosses to manage their company’s energy consumption better and bring costs down.”
The research project is part of Phase 1 of the Non-Domestic Smarter Tariff Comparisons Innovation Programme, which provides up to £800,000 to support projects which further solutions using customer data to produce energy tariff comparisons for smaller non-domestic energy consumers.
