We have some new business broadband, line rental and calls deals for you - including inclusive broadband, line rental and calls packages from £25, or three months free broadband.

Image by DeclanTM via Flickr

Talk Talk: business broadband, line rental and calls from £25 a month

Get business broadband, line rental and a choice of either peak or off-peak calls to 01,02,03 and 0870 numbers for £25 a month.

Or, business broadband, line rental & unlimited calls to 01, 02, 03 & 0870 numbers for £28 a month.

Both deals include free line installation worth £99, broadband speeds of up to 24Mbps, a free wireless router, unlimited downloads and are based on a 24 month contract.

These deals run until 31st March 2012.

There are a few conditions:

• there’s a £30 broadband set-up fee;

• the offers are only available to new Talk Talk customers or existing Talk Talk customers who don’t have broadband and are taking On-Net (LLU) office broadband;

• all ‘out-of-bundle’ minutes will cost 5p per minute;

• a 4p connection charge applies.

Call 0800 688 8568 to find out more and sign up.

Onebill Telecom: three months free broadband

Get three month free business broadband with a broadband, line rental and calls package from Onebill Telecom. 

You’ll pay £17.44 a month for the first three months, then £24.73 a month for broadband, line rental and 500 minutes of calls to 01, 02, 03 and 0870 numbers. Onebill guarantees this deal will save you money compared to BT.

This offer is based on a 24 month contract and includes a 10GB download limit and a free router (a wireless router costs £15). 

You can't apply on our website, so to find out more or grab one of these deals, give us a call on 0800 688 8568 or leave your details and we’ll get in touch. 

Today the Forum of Private Business (FPB) is launching its get Get Britain Trading campaign.

Image by  comedy_nose via Flickr

The idea behind Get Britain Trading is to raise awareness of the huge contribution that small businesses make to the UK economy, and also to lobby the government to take action to support these firms.

This year, the campaign is focusing on five specific areas:

1) Improving cashflow

2) Making tax simple and proportionate

3) Creating employment and improving skills

4) Reducing business costs

5) Creating opportunities for growth

We think the campaign is a great idea and we’re proud to champion small businesses. We can all provide specific support on two of the areas of focus this year too: improving cashflow and reducing business costs.

How? Well, many businesses don't pay much attention to their business energy contract; it's just one of those costs that you have to pay. However, you can make significant savings by switching your business electricity and gas. We save businesses with low energy consumption an average £320.70, those with medium consumption an average of £706.66 and those with high consumption an average of £1774.67.* If you don't shop around for your business energy each time your contract comes up for renewal, that's money you're needlessly throwing away, year in, year out.

We can also help you improve your cashflow, by making sure you get the right billing and payment plan, or account management options. It could be something as simple as setting up Direct Debits which give you a discount on your bill, or signing up for an online account where you can give meter reading online so you get accurate bills. We could also help you get a smart meter so you don't have to worry about meter readings or checking bills, and get you access to data about your energy consumption online which can help you be more energy-smart.

We’ll save you time too. It’s a cliche, but when you’re running a business, time really is money. And let’s face it, business energy isn't very exciting - no one wants to spend hours online or on the phone getting quotes from different suppliers. With us, all it takes is one phone call to compare prices from across the market, and we can handle the paperwork and admin too.

You can get involved in Get Britain Trading too:

• Join the campaign;
• Play a part in the discussion on LinkedIn
• Follow the FPB on Twitter and use the #BritainTrading hashtag

*Average savings for all businesses switching their gas and/or electricity with uSwitchforBusiness.com for the period January- November 2011. Low users are classed as using less than 19,000 kWh a year, medium users 19,000-49,999 kWh a year and high users 50,000 kWh a year or more.

British Gas's parent company, Centrica, has today released its figures for 2011.

Image by everydaymodernlife via Flickr

British Gas’s parent company, Centrica reported operating profits of of £2.4 billion for 2011, up 1% on 2010. The residential arm of British Gas, meanwhile, saw a 30% fall in operating profits to £522 million.

But what about British Gas Business? Well, it accounted for 9% of Centrica’s overall profits last year, but profits fell to £219 million - a 6% decrease on 2010.

This decrease may have a lot to do with the fact that British Gas Business actually saw a drop in the number of businesses it supplies, from 1.4 million in 2010 to 1 million in 2011.

Why might British Gas Business be losing customers? Well, as the biggest supplier around, it will always have more customers to retain or lose than anyone else. It also has a smaller pool from which to draw new customers.

However, British Gas Business's prices have also been higher than average, as this chart showing the average prices our customers get from the company shows:

 

What about the issue of energy supplier profits as a whole? Working in the B2B sector, we want to see businesses do well and make a profit. However, transparency on profits is essential too, a fact recognised by Ofgem which led to the mandating of published accounts from the Big Six energy suppliers. These accounts aren't straightforward though; energy companies are 'vertically integrated', meaning they own both the generation and supply ends of the energy chain. So they can make money at one end even when the other side of the business reports hard times. That's the benefit from inheriting a former monopoly structure and acquiring and investing in that business. Should the banker bashing extend to the business energy market? We'll let you decide....