Gerard Duggan

Archive for July, 2009

Yesterday I had a great start to the day and was appointed by Woodside Church to review their gas and electricity spend. I look forward to reporting back to their management team once I’ve established when their contract expires. In the meantime let me let you a little about this  contemporary, Bible-believing Christian church based in Bedford.

It is a  large family of people of all ages, united by a love of God and are passionate about living their lives in a way that makes a difference to the people around them. The church is a community of people drawn from many different social and ethnic backgrounds, just like Bedford itself.

Woodside meet together on Sundays at 10.30am in a modern building located in the heart of the Putnoe area of Bedford. They also gather throughout the week in smaller groups meeting in homes across the town. Woodside run weekly programmes for children, young people, parents with small children and those seeking special personal help.

Everyone is welcome to be a part of the life of our church, wherever you’re from, whatever your age and whatever your background.

Woodside Church belongs to the Newfrontiers family of churches.

BT is imposing a price rise by stealth that will put up the cost of making a daytime call by a staggering 34 per cent. ..The Daily Mail reports

BT already increased the cost of calls in April and has now outlined plans for a second increase from October 1 – the combined effect is to increase the cost from 3.91p a minute to 5.25p.

The company is also planning to put up the cost of connecting a call for the second time in less than six months.

BT has been accused of trying to bury the price rise information in the small-print of a letter and company magazine sent to customers.

The combined effect will add hundreds of millions of pounds to the bills of residential customers.

Perhaps now is the time to consider another provider. Many of my customers do not pay for their land line calls; have a look at “free global calls” for more information or call me on 07860 175610.

Aging soccer player late signing for Bedford Athletic Rugby Club

If you’re a Bedford Athletic fan don’t worry Hendry Rheeders and Val Jones haven’t lost the plot!

The finance team of one of Bedford’s oldest sporting club’s has invited me to review their energy spend to ensure they are getting best value. As an independent utility broker I am able to check my client’s are on the right tariff.

The club won’t be charged a fee for the review and I won’t keep any of the savings which may emerge from me tendering The Ath’s energy on the open market either.

So if you’d like me to be part of your team please call me on 0800 458 9643 …at worst I’ll confirm the costs you are paying are right for your level of consumption, at best I’ll improve those rates to help your business spend its money on more interesting things!

You can be part of the team at Bedford Ath

The Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) will come into effect in April 2010 as the UK takes aggressive steps towards a low carbon economy.

Is your business ready?

The UK must reduce its baseline emissions of six major greenhouse gases by 12.5%. The draft Climate Change Bill commits the UK to reductions in CO2 emissions of at least 26% by 2020 and 80% by 2050.

Will the CRC affect your business?

The Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) has been introduced to meet the UK’s climate change targets. This new emission trading scheme aims to reduce carbon emissions in large non-energy intensive organisations by 1.2 million tonnes of carbon per year by 2020. The CRC will be targeting organisations whose electricity consumption is greater than 6,000MWh/yr – equivalent to an annual electricity bill of £500k. However, many organisations are still not fully prepared or aware of the commitments they may face and the actions they may need to take.

Is the CRC an opportunity or a threat?

The Carbon Show is the place for you to address this question. The Environment Agency will be leading exclusive in-depth seminars and workshops to help businesses get up to speed on the CRC. Leading consulting firms like Enviros will be discussing the many business opportunities related to this new initiative.

The Carbon Show is on 29 and 30 September 2009 and is being held at the ExCeL centre in London. It will be a great place to gather the information and resources that your business needs to develop a successful carbon mitigation strategy and compete in the new low carbon economy.

The event is the first ever international exhibition dedicated to carbon, covering everything from carbon consulting, to carbon audits to low carbon solutions for your business.
“Carbon will be the world’s biggest commodity market, and it could become the world’s biggest market overall.”

Louis Redshaw, Head of Environmental Markets, Barclays Capital

Imagine the impact you could create by saving all your staff money on all of life’s essentials and at no cost to you or your business; your staff don’t have to sacrifice any salary either.

Introduce The Utility Warehouse Discount Club as an employee benefit, is a unique one.

It is a fantastic opportunity for your staff to save money on all of life’s essentials, on average our customers save over £803.00 p.a. No other company can provide the range of services we do under one roof and on one bill.

Your staff are your biggest asset imagine the impact on moral when they learn they can save on all their shopping including petrol and diesel, gas, electricity, mobile phones, landlines and broadband.

We regularly feature in the UK’s leading independent consumer magazine and are regularly recommended by them. If you are a member please check out our reviews at www.which.co.uk or download the PDF called Independent Expert Advice You Can Trust. We have also been voted ‘Best’ for our customer service by The Daily Mail.

There is no charge to you to operate the benefit other than for me to make use of one of your offices to discuss your employee’s requirements at an operationally convenient time. If this isn’t a practical option I can arrange to visit them outside office hours.

The Benefits in summary as an employer

• Helps with the recruitment, motivation and retention of staff
• No cost to the employer as the benefit is fully outsourced with NO administration required
• A non-discriminatory voluntary benefit available to all levels of staff
• Increases staff’s spending power
• Can be accessed on-line and in an off-line environment via printed benefits directories, enabling access for all
• Promotes PC literacy and internet awareness

The Benefits as an employee

• Gives real and immediate value on daily expenses
• Increases spending power
• A typical household can save up to £803.00 p.a.
• Triple value guarantee on gas and electricity
• 5% CashBack on all shopping including petrol and diesel
• Massive choice of products from 27 high street names  – something for everyone
• Safe and secure password protected site to access online account
• Most services are contract free
• Free calls to UK land line numbers and ten international destinations subject to the number of services bundled together
• Full after sales service support
• Unrivalled UK based customer service, managed fully in-house
• Membership costs from as little as 6p per day – £1.73 per month
• Option to use savings to benefit a local charity

If you would like to discuss the impact this benefit could have on your business please call me on 0800 458 9643.