One of the simplest ways to reduce your business’ energy bill is to outsource the task. Zembl Energy Brokers are experts in energy price plan comparisons, so we can inevitably save your business both time and money. To find out what new customers can expect, we sat down with Ryan Morse, one of our brokers, and asked him to walk us through the process from start to finish.
Step 1: Getting to know the customer
The process starts with an introductory conversation, Ryan explains.
“The goal of that conversation is to find out who the customer is, what kind of business profile they have, what their usage patterns are, and what the next 12 to 24 months of business look like for them, so we can start developing a procurement strategy that delivers on the customer’s unique needs.”
Following that introductory conversation, Zembl Energy Brokers request a letter of authority to contact the customer’s current retailer. “That letter is entirely non-committal,” Ryans says.
“It doesn’t lock the customer into using us. It really just gives us the authority to collect the information we need for the next step in the process.”
Step 2: Strategy development, market comparison, and recommendations
The info obtained from a customer’s current retailer is used to put together an individually tailored energy procurement strategy.
“We present that strategy back to the business, basically saying, ‘Here’s what we found in terms of your contract end date, rates, tariff code, and so on, and here’s what we think will work for you’,” Ryan says.
At this point, and with the customer’s okay, Zembl Energy Brokers go out to the market and runs an exhaustive price plan comparison.
“We work with 3 major energy retailers and some carefully selected boutique retailers that support business to business energy, so we can be sure we’re going to find the best pricing plan available. Plus, we don’t just collect the energy rate – even though that’s the most important bit of data – but also the network charges, the demand charges, the environmental charges, and all the things that make up the total cost of an energy bill.”
Zembl Energy Brokers collate all this information in a comparison report. “It’s a big document, containing a detailed breakdown of each retailer’s rates for each charge. Having all that information is important because it allows the customer to see how we arrived at our final conclusions,” Ryan explains.
But crucially, Zembl Energy Brokers keep things as simple as possible by stating its final recommendation.
“Basically, the recommendation says, ‘We think that retailer X is the best option for you because they can offer an overall saving of X amount of dollars over such and such a term.’ That kind of clear communication is key to how we work,” Ryan says.
Step 3: Facilitating “the switch” and post-sale monitoring and support
Customers have 5 days to consider Zembl Energy Brokers’ recommendations, and to do any of their own due diligence they feel necessary.
“If they decide to go ahead with us at the end of that period, they sign a contract and we then facilitate the switch to their new retailer,” Ryan says.
And that’s not the end of Zembl Energy Brokers’ services, Ryan explains.
“We don’t just help the business switch retailers and then leave them to their own devices. There’s also a post-sale process that involves ongoing monitoring and pricing support. That part of our service is critical to ensure that if the market fluctuates – pushing energy prices down, say – the customer can renegotiate their contract and potentially switch to a better plan.”
So how does Ryan summarise the key benefits of Zembl Energy Brokers’ services?
“Contracting us is really like hiring an expert energy procurement officer for your business,” he says, “but with the advantage that we’re much cheaper and you don’t have to employ anyone.”
We regularly review the energy market and work with businesses to help them take control of their energy bills and achieve potential savings. Contact us for an obligation-free review today.
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