Find out how much you could save on your church or parish hall’s gas and electricity bills. Compare deals from some of the UK’s best suppliers today!
Are you or your committee responsible for managing your local church or church hall’s energy bills? If so, you’ll understand how challenging it can be to keep costs down. Budgetary constraints, notoriously difficult to heat, historic buildings, and rising wholesale energy prices certainly don’t make it easy.
However, this doesn’t mean there aren’t great deals on gas and electricity out there. With the Business Energy Comparison website, you could find the right deal for your church and potentially save up to 45% on your energy bills. It’s so simple to do. All you need to provide is the name and location of your building and some information about your current energy usage. The experts will do the rest!
There are around 40,300 church buildings in the UK (source: National Churches Trust). Many of these buildings are hundreds of years old. Some of them are even older! So, they’re often built using stone and certainly weren’t constructed with energy efficiency in mind. This means they have poor insulation and their size means they take a while to heat up – which results in greater energy consumption and more expensive bills.
Churches are also at the heart of communities. They’re used in traditional services of worship, as well as weddings, christenings, funerals, choir practices and by many other community groups and clubs. So, if your building is regularly hosting lots of events, you’ll use more energy throughout the year.
Churches are subject to the lower 5% VAT rate on their business gas and electricity bills, provided 60% or more of the total energy consumption is used for charitable activities.
However, if less than 60% is used for charitable purposes – i.e., if your church is hired out commercially – you’ll be liable to pay the reduced 5% rate on the qualifying charitable causes part, with 20% to be paid on the part of your supply used for commercial activities. It’s important to check that your committee hasn’t been paying too much VAT.
If your church is paying the reduced VAT rate (5%) on its gas and electricity, you’ll be exempt from paying the Climate Change Levy (CCL) too. The CCL is a tax imposed by the government which is designed to encourage business and non-domestic energy consumers to become more energy efficient and cut carbon emissions.
With church electricity prices and gas rates rising, it’s become more important than ever to ensure you’re on a deal that provides the greatest value for money.
By making a comparison with us today, you’ll be able to see whether you could reduce your running costs and potentially save hundreds of pounds a year – money that could be towards repairs, building improvements and lots more.
Plus, it takes less time than it takes to make a brew. Just pop the details of your building, energy consumption and current supplier into the tool. It’ll scour the market to find the best quotes based on your needs. From here, you can decide which one works for you and make a switch, or speak to specialists for more advice on the best supplier of energy for churches.
Worried about the hassle involved in switching? Don’t be. Once you’ve decided to make the switch, leave the rest to the experts – they’ll do all the heavy lifting to ensure a smooth switch to your new supplier, with no disruption in the meantime.
Want to reduce your church’s carbon footprint? The best way to do this might be to switch to a green energy supplier. Business Energy Comparison works with some of the industry’s leading suppliers of renewable energy. So, if there’s a great green deal on the market for you to benefit from, we’ll help you find it!
Switching suppliers could help you save up to 45%. However, there are other things you can do that can improve your energy efficiency.
These include:
There are also lots of charitable organisations out there that can provide energy efficiency grants for churches that can be used to make more permanent changes – such as underfloor heating or solar panel installation.
No, unfortunately, Ofgem’s energy price cap only protects domestic customers. This means churches, like businesses and charities, are vulnerable to price spikes in the wholesale energy market.
Yes, you can. Now the commercial water market has been deregulated, you’re free to shop around for a better deal. Compare prices from water suppliers from across the UK to see if you can save.
Firstly, you should always ensure you’re providing regular and correct meter readings to your supplier – to both your church’s gas and electricity companies. This will help ensure you’re paying the right amount.
However, if you’ve been overcharged on your VAT – i.e., you’ve paid the full rate when you’re eligible for the reduced rate – you can claim a rebate for any difference charged for up to four years. The best place to start is by speaking to your supplier directly – they’ll be able to correct any previous invoices and issue a credit to cover the amount you’ve overpaid.
Usually, it’ll take up to 21 days. But don’t worry – there won’t be any disruption to your supply during this changeover. And if you use the experts at Business Energy Comparison, you won’t have to worry about it at all. Instead, the team will deal with all the complicated parts for you.
Historical buildings are known as beautiful places of interest but are very difficult to heat. If your church is registered as a listed building you will be eligable to reneable energy tax credits and grants to help save money on your church energy bills.
According to the National Churches Trust around 20,000 churches are listed in England and if you want to install a modern heating system for example, you will need to speak to English Heritage as soon as you can.
While every church is different, Utility Bidder is confident that we will find you a better church energy deal than you are currently getting and most of our church customers save between 10 – 25% on their bills. That could mean savings of hundreds if not thousands of pounds a year – money that could be spent on your church.
The majority of churches with an income of £100,000 or less are classed as charities which means, subject to the business activities of the church, you may only need to pay a reduced VAT tariff of 5% on your energy bills and not the standard VAT rate of 20%. If your church has been paying a higher VAT rate, we can help you claim back your over payments – again this could amount to quite a significant amount of money.
Business Energy Comparison
Corby Innovation Hub,
Bangrave Road
Corby, NN17 1NN
0800 007 4001
Trading name of Utility Bidder
