More than three-quarters of SMEs (86%) in the manufacturing sector believe they pay too much for their utilities and almost the same number (81%) understand there are savings to be made, the study from energy and water consultancy Utilitywise has revealed.
Although one quarter (25%) businesses in the manufacturing sector switched in the last year, many others avoided moving to new suppliers and tariffs due to the belief it is not worth the hassle (27%) and the return would not outweigh the time it takes to organise (19%).
Over half of businesses (60%) in the sector reported that a feeling of taking the power back into their hands would encourage them to switch energy suppliers, on top of a financial motivation. A saving of £100 - £200 per year would be enough to encourage 18% of businesses to switch and over half (51%) already believe they would save up to £300 if they were to switch in 2015.
For those manufacturing businesses that have saved or foresee saving money through switching, 43% would instead invest in better equipment for the organisation, 24% would inject the cash into additional benefits for the staff and 22% would focus on office upgrades.
