September sees the Carbon Trust gearing up to help more small and medium sized firms cut energy costs by offering them loans and launching its 'Big Business Refit' programme.
The Trust's 'Big Business Refit' gives SMEs advice and financial support on how to cut energy costs by scrapping old inefficient equipment and replacing it with new energy efficient models.

The programme's launch, follows a recession-driven rise in demand for the Carbon Trust’s interest-free business loans, which the Trust is promoting at the HVAC exhibition London HEVAR on September 23-24.

In the first six months of 2009, hundreds of SMEs were given loans at zero-interest to equip their businesses with energy-saving technology. As a result, they are saving an average of £14,000 each on annual energy bills.

Tom Delay, chief executive, the Carbon Trust, said: “Business owners are realising that for every month they ‘make do and mend’ with old inefficient equipment, they are wasting more cash on unnecessarily high energy bills.”

“With credit all but dried up elsewhere, the Big Business Refit breaks the deadlock by helping SMEs to buy the equipment that will both slash their costs and often transform their businesses.”

SMEs can benefit from free energy saving assessments from a Carbon Trust expert and get advice on savings that could be made by replacing inefficient equipment. SMEs that want to take part in the Big Business Refit can get expert advice from the Carbon Trust by calling 01865 885879.

The Carbon Trust’s unsecured, interest-free loans can be used for equipment replacements costing between £3,000 and £400,000. The Carbon Trust says the loans are designed to pay for themselves through direct energy savings.

With a total of £100m in loans available, the Big Business Refit is expected to help up to 3,000 UK SMEs save a total of £40m off their annual energy costs.

Tom Delay added: “Businesses which replace old equipment now will be in a far better position come the end of the recession. Their cost base will be lower than their competitors and, with brand new equipment in place, they’ll be more efficient.”

Energy Efficiency loans are available to businesses meeting one, or both, of the following criteria:

Companies that meet the EU definition of a small or medium-sized enterprise, i.e. companies with less than 250 employees and a turnover of less than €50m (around £42m at today’s exchange rate).

Companies that are not eligible to participate in the Carbon Reduction Commitment, i.e. companies consuming less than 6,000MWh of half hourly metered electricity. This typically equates to an annual electricity spend of £500,000.

All loans are unsecured, interest-free and repayable over a period of up to 4 years. The minimum loan size has recently been reduced from £5,000 to £3,000 whilst the maximum size has increased from £200,000 to £400,000 to help more businesses secure funding in the recession.

For more details you can talk to The Carbon Trust's representatives on September 23-24 at LondonHEVAR 2009 hosted at London's Royal Horticultural Halls in Greycoat Street.