Hunter businesses, along with their NSW counterparts, feel abandoned by state and federal governments while dealing with surging gas and electricity prices.
That’s according to a new Business NSW report, which was released last week.
Unfinished Business: Putting small business energy policy back on the table contains in-depth analysis of 658 ventures and their efforts to reach net zero and reduce outlays amid a cost-of-doing business crunch.
As small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face up to a 56% increase in electricity prices this year and next, the landmark study revealed businesses were crying out for advice that’s in short supply.
Business Hunter CEO Bob Hawes said the report reinforced issues high on the priority list for local operators.
“We know from engagement with our members that it is not uncommon for their energy bills to have doubled,” he explained.
“For a small business, this increase might be in the order of thousands of dollars and, for the largest, in the order of millions.
“The pain experienced at both ends of the spectrum is substantial and putting not just growth and expansion plans in jeopardy, but business as usual.”
In an effort to reduce their bill, 40% of respondents indicated they had started shopping around but did not end up switching, with 59% of these businesses, indicating the savings available elsewhere were not large enough, and 23% finding the process too complicated.
“The report emphasises the pitfalls and dead ends businesses often face when confronting the task of trying to reduce their energy bills,” Mr Hawes said.
“They have understandably not predicted or budgeted for this cost increase, they’ve been caught by surprise and unfortunately the short-term fixes aren’t materialising.”
The study found one-in-five businesses still find the process of switching providers difficult or extremely difficult, showing efforts to simplify energy markets for businesses have further to go.
Mr Hawes said the report went further than just highlighting issues across the energy landscape, offering clear steps the government could take to help businesses decarbonise and reduce energy costs.
“Due to their high energy consumption, business and industry represented a significant opportunity to contribute toward the state’s energy reduction and decarbonisation targets,” he added.
“However, the requirements and approach for business are less straightforward than for the residential market, although this tends to be where a lot of discussion is focussed.
“Residential consumption represents 11% of the total energy used in NSW, with transport (47%), industry (33%) and commercial (9%) comprising the rest, so there are huge gains to be made by looking at the business sector.
“Business and industry will have to navigate unique, varied and highly bespoke challenges on the path to net zero.
“For example, a business with predominantly gas-fuelled, recently-purchased equipment, or those who would like to invest in low-cost renewables such as onsite solar, but restricted because they lease the premises, aren’t in a position to do so.
“Businesses want to do the right thing but need support to navigate changing policy and to overcome financial and capacity barriers to decarbonising and reducing their energy footprint.”
The report, funded by Energy Consumers Australia’s Grants Program, can be found at https://www.businessnsw.com/content/dam/nswbc/businessnsw/submissions/November_2022_ECA_Survey_Report_low-res.pdf
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