Power Efficiency, a Balfour Beatty company specialising in energy management and carbon consultancy, claims in a new report that energy costs have increased by 77 per cent since 2004 and are expected to rise a further 81 per cent over the coming decade.
The report - 'The Energy Price Challenge' - reveals that by 2021 energy inflation will have added £8.4 billion per annum to the fuel bill of UK commerce and the public sector combined . This represents an energy bill rise from £10.3 billion to £18.7 billion per annum.

Mark Callaway, energy markets director at Power Efficiency, commented: 'Both the UK public sector and business at large needs to face up to a new reality. After a long period of deceptively low energy costs, we have emerged into an era of high and rising prices that have made effective energy management a board-level issue.

'The policy framework being put in place by Government to cut emissions and improve energy supply security will also pose major challenges for UK businesses and the public sector. It is critical that organisations have energy management strategies in place now, for the next decade to protect profitability and defend budgets through a period of rising energy inflation.'

The full Power Efficiency white paper can be downloaded at www.powerefficiency.co.uk