About Sprint Energy

Sprint Energy provides energy expertise and solutions to small, medium and large corporate clients. We pride ourselves on the ability to help, advise and save you money whilst offering fully independent and impartial advice.

The energy market is constantly changing with cost and charges being the main topics but other issues such as lighting and LED technology are as important as legislation is also constantly changing.

Sprint Energy can help you reduce cost, become more efficient in your consumption of power where possible and advise on new legislation and options.

The key to the success of Sprint Energy is our Service Delivery and Account Management Services.  We have over 18 years experience of communications provision and can guarantee one of the best customer experience available on the market.

About the Electricity industry

The Electricity Industry in the UK has four main elements.  They are:

Generation - responsible for generating the energy we use in our homes and businesses.  Although historically, electricity generation was mainly derived from coal consumption, the UK generating industry has moved to a variety of generation methods - nuclear, gas etc. Generated electricity flows into the transmission network and through to the regional Distribution networks.

Transmission - responsible for maintaining and operating the high-voltage transmission network.  This network carries large amounts of power from the generators to the distribution networks - similar to the motorways of the country's road networks. There are three transmission licence holders in Great Britain - Scottish Power and Scottish & Southern Energy in Scotland, National Grid in England and Wales. National Grid operates the network across Great Britain, but only owns the network in England and Wales.

Distributors - are the owners and operators of the network of towers and cables that bring electricity from the high-voltage transmission Network to homes and businesses. Even so, they are not the organisations that sell electricity to the end consumer.  This is carried out by organisations that make use of the distribution networks to pass the energy commodity to your property - the suppliers.

Suppliers - are the companies who supply and sell electricity to the consumer. The suppliers are the first point of contact when arranging an electricity supply to domestic, commercial and smaller industrial premises.

The Story of Deregulation

Previously

• The Regional Electricity Companies were responsible for the supply of  electricity
• Each supplied electricity to a separate geographic area of the UK

Changes

• The Government decided to encourage competition in order to increase efficiency, reduce costs & provide consumer choice
• The market was opened up.

Why have business electricity prices increased?

Increases are linked to faster than expected depletion of UK sources of gas. This has led to tighter gas supply margins and the reliance of gas imports.

These have both contributed to higher wholesale gas prices. Much of the electricity in the UK is produced using gas and so increases in gas prices have a direct impact on electricity prices.

What are the different types of meter profiles?

01 Standard quarterly domestic supply
02 Quarterly domestic E7 supply & Off-Peak
03 Standard quarterly business supply, Single rate & Eve/Wk End
04 Quarterly business E7 supply & Off-Peak. Also Eve/Wk End & Night
05 Monthly supply with Load Factor below 20%
06 Monthly supply with Load Factor between 20% & 30%
07 Monthly supply with Load Factor between 30% & 40%
08 Monthly supply with Load Factor over 40%
00 Half hourly metered (i.e. not a profile)

What is an Mpan/Supply number?

Components of the MPAN

(Note that the entire bottom line is known as the MPAN CORE) 

What are the different REC areas?

10 EASTERN
11 POWERGEN
12 LONDON
13 MANWEB
14 NPOWER
15 NORTHERN
16 NORWEB
17 SCOTTISH HYDRO
18 SCOTTISH POWER
19 SEEBOARD
20 SOUTHERN
21 SWALEC
22 SWEB
23 Yorkshire

How are electricity costs calculated?

Before we see how much electricity costs, we have to understand how it's measured.  Electricity used at any moment is measured in watts. For example:

• A 100-watt light bulb uses 100 watts.
• A typical desktop computer uses 65 watts.
• A central air conditioner uses about 3500 watts. 

To know how much energy you're using you have to consider how long you run your appliances. When you use 1000 watts for an hour, that's a kilowatt-hour. For example: 

• Ten 100-watt light bulbs on for an hour, is 1 kWh
• Ten 100-watt light bulbs on for 1/2 an hour, is 0.5 kWh
• Ten 50-watt light bulbs on for an hour, is 0.5 kWh
• Running a 3500-watt air conditioner for an hour is 3.5 kWh. 

Each supplier charges a pence rate per unit which is multiplied by the number of kWh used in your billing period.

Standing Charge

A standing charge is a fixed amount you pay each day a meter is connected to an electricity network. These charges are used to cover costs like meter reading, maintenance and the cost of keeping you connected to the network. This is usually charged at a pence per day rate.

Maximum demand charges

The maximum demand charge is an additional charge that is calculated for meters with a maximum demand load factor. The calculation is based on the maximum electricity demand you will require on any particular day during a month and is calculated as an average of your recent consumption.

About the Gas industry

Current North Sea gas reserves seem to be drying up sooner than anyone has expected and as a result, we’ve had to get much of our supplies from Europe. The EU has said energy suppliers on the European mainland, particularly France and Germany, have been holding back supplies of gas, thus driving up prices.

The price of gas imported from Europe has also been driven higher by the rising cost of oil because on the continent, contracts for the supply of wholesale gas have traditionally been linked to oil prices.

There is hope of some relief to fuel price anxiety in a few years' time as new foreign operators race to supply the UK's gas needs.

How is Gas Delivered?

Gas is delivered to the seven reception points (called beach terminals) by gas producers operating Offshore Facilities from over 100 fields beneath the sea around the British Isles. In addition a newly commissioned terminal at the Isle of Grain allows Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to be delivered to the terminal by sea. After treatment, which includes checking the quality meets the safety requirements and measuring the calorific value (the amount of energy contained in the gas), it is transported through 275,000 Kilometres of iron, steel and polyethylene mains pipeline.

The National Transmission System (NTS) is the high pressure part of National Grid's transmission system and it consists of more than 6,600 Kilometres of top quality welded steel pipeline operating at pressures of up to 85 bar (85 times normal atmospheric pressure, over 1250 psi). The gas is pushed through the system using 26 strategically placed compressor stations. From over 140 off-take points, the NTS supplies gas to 40 power stations, a small number of large industrial consumers and the twelve Local Distribution Zones (LDZs) that contain pipes operating at lower pressure which eventually supply the consumer.

The twelve LDZs are managed within eight gas distribution networks. Following the sale by National Grid of four of the distribution networks, the owners of the distribution networks are now:

• North West, London, West Midlands and East of England (East Midlands LDZ & East Anglia LDZ) are owned and managed by National Grid (the area outlined in black)
  
• Scotland & South of England (South LDZ & South East LDZ) are owned and managed by Scotia Gas Networks – operating as Scotland Gas Networks and Southern Gas Networks respectively 
• Wales and the West (Wales LDZ & South West LDZ) is owned and managed by Wales and West Utilities
• North of England (North LDZ & Yorkshire LDZ) is owned by Northern Gas Networks, who have contracted operational activities to United Utilities Operations 

Is does not matter which supplier a consumer chooses, the national grid of pipelines will always deliver the gas. 

What is a Meter Point Reference?

This is the unique number used to identify the gas meter which is used in all correspondence with suppliers.

How are gas costs calculated?

Before we see how much gas costs, we have to understand how it's measured.  Gas usage is measured in cubic feet. This is converted into kWh as in Electricity usage.  Each supplier charges a pence rate per unit which is multiplied by the number of kWh used in your billing period.

Standing Charge

A standing charge is a fixed amount you pay each billing period. These charges are used to cover costs like meter reading, maintenance and the cost of keeping you connected to the network.  Some suppliers hide a standing charge by charging a number of units at a higher rate and then the remaining at the agreed lower rate.