INDEX REVEALS SLIGHT SECOND QUARTER DIP IN ENERGY PRICES

Savings should be invested in efficiency upgrades and renewable energy schemes

Energy prices fell slightly by 0.1% in the second quarter of 2013, latest data from the Lorien Energy Index (LEI) reveals. It still shows a year-on-year increase, however, of 9.2%.

The Lorien Energy Index, which is produced by Lorien Engineering Solutions, monitors the overall cost of energy for business users. It enables companies of all sizes to make sense of their current energy consumption and look at ways they can make savings in the future, by being energy efficient and utilising low carbon and renewable technologies to boost energy security.

While Lorien welcomes the dip, however fractional, the firm’s sustainability experts suggest that savings could be usefully invested in efficiency upgrades and renewable energy schemes.

Lorien’s engineering director Steve Turner said: “Investment in low carbon, efficient and renewable technologies will help future-proof businesses, and should benefit from Government incentives such as Enhanced Capital Allowances, Feed in Tariffs and Green Investment Bank funding.

“We advise clients on the most appropriate renewable technology and efficiency measures and help them understand the true business case. As energy prices rise, renewable energy projects become much more viable, with a shorter return on capital, based upon projected energy prices.

“The recent announcement of the nuclear development at Hinkley Point, where a strike price for saleable energy was agreed at nearly double the current wholesale cost of energy, gives an indication of forecasts for the next 10 years, and those are in line with LEI projections.”

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