UK Energy Brokers could have a brand new product to market soon to the commercial energy market, because on the day that British Gas gets rapped over record profits, a brand new energy saving product is released in the United States.

A Silicon Valley based company called Bloom Energy, has finally launched its new commercial energy brokers product the Bloom Energy Server, that could change the way companies buy business energy in the future.  The Bloom Energy Server is a large metal box about the size of a small van, which can generate electricity from a wide range of different fuels, and at the same time producing very low greenhouse gas emissions.  This could be a new type of renewable energy source, and unlike traditional renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and solar panels, each solution produces a constant source of energy for years, which could allow companies to be self sustaining or even disconnect themselves from the national grid.

What Is The Bloom Box

The product that has been dubbed the “power plant in a box”, is in fact a new type of large fuel cell, capable of generating 100 kilowatts of electricity, which uses solid oxide fuel cells, which generate electrical power through an electrochemical reaction between oxygen and an additional fuel such as natural gas, ethanol gas and even landfill gas, which causes electrons in the cell to flow through the ceramic materials which in turn generates an electrical current to power businesses or homes.

The Future Market – The shape of things to come

Will this new product be the start of the end for traditional forms of energy generation, and could this lead eventually to every business and home having there very own mini power plant on site.  Well only time will tell, for the time being this product remains out of the price range of most small businesses, and its long term viability and reliability remain to be seen.  

We would like to see how the market takes to this new product over the coming months and what rival competitors now bring to the market following this launch.  This new technology, like anything will develop over time and once mass produced, we will see the cost point come down to a level that makes it viable for everyone.  We don’t expect this to ever be a perfect solution but it could make a big difference to future generations and go along way to a reliable and sustainable form of energy.

In Summary

With the pending introduction of the UK carbon reduction commitment scheme, it is highly likely that we are going to see a big uptake in these new types of technology as business energy brokers look to advice clients on reducing their overall carbon emissions in the future.  Many questions on the reliability and the long term value of this product remain to be seen.  However we look forward to seeing what happens in the future, and what additional technology breakthroughs bring to the market.

How to find out if you have a half hourly meter –

So how do you know if you have a half hour meter?  It’s actually quite straight forward, and all you will need to find this out is a recent copy of your electricity bill.  It doesn’t have to be the latest half hourly electricity invoice, any recent bill will do.  Then on your invoice you need to find your meter point reference number or MPAN for short.  This is a numerical version of your tariff and supply point details, and is unique to your supply.

This is how half hourly suppliers’ mange to identify your supply details and price up your electricity requirements.  The MPAN is a series of numbers, normally in a box and usually identified with a large S at the front.  In nearly all cases theses number are split up into two lines with 8 numbers at the top and 13 numbers at the bottom.

Youtube - How to find out if you have a Half Hourly meter?

The bottom line is the part that’s unique to your half hour supply, and this is how your supply details are used by a supplier.  It’s actually the top part that allows you to identify if you have a half hourly meter.

And you need to look at the first two digits of this top line, if these two digits are both zeros then you have a half hourly supplied meter and you will need to speak to a specialist half hourly supplier such as Catalyst in order to obtain comparative quotes.

If these two numbers are not “00” then it will be one of these – “03,04,05,06,07,08” which indicate that you have a non half hourly meter or NHH supply.  In some cases if you have a very small supply then it may fall into a domestic meter profile which is indicated as a “01 or 02” on your bills.

The thing to note here is that if your not sure if you have a half hourly supplied meter, then you can always just ring your supplier and ask them.  Some suppliers deliberately don’t show the top line on invoices any more for exactly that reason.  As it offers a reason for you to engage with them, and gives them the ability to up sell additional services.

If you want to compare half hourly suppliers or need help in identifying if you have a half hourly meter, please feel free to contact a member of our team.

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